CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has directed the federal government to start out relocating to the brand new administrative capital in December.
The brand new administrative capital, east of Cairo, is situated within the space between Cairo-Suez Highway and Cairo-Ain Sokhna Highway. The positioning is about 60 km from each the cities of Suez and Ain Sokhna, and the center of Cairo.
Within the wake of his statements, Deputy Minister of Housing for Nationwide Initiatives Khaled Abbas informed journalist Ahmed Moussa on the Sada Al-Balad channel on Nov. 3 that the switch of workers to the executive capital will happen over six months beginning in December.
Abbas stated that fifty,000 workers will transfer, beginning with 10 p.c in December, with about 200 to 300 workers from every ministry. He burdened that every one providers could be accessible and that the brand new buildings have been accomplished.
Based on the federal government, the brand new administrative capital has a complete price of $60 billion, a complete space of 170,000 acres, and a inhabitants of 6.5 million individuals, in a step geared toward easing congestion in Cairo. The primary part, overlaying 40,000 acres, contains the federal government district, the enterprise district, and the diplomatic district.
Professional-regime media shops rushed to have a good time the beginning of labor within the new capital. Journalist Akram al-Qassas, chairman and editor-in-chief of Youm7 newspaper, stated Nov. 4 that the brand new administrative capital symbolizes the brand new republic. He stated that the relocation displays the significance and effectiveness of the steps taken by the state businesses.
On Nov. 3, Nashaat al-Daihi, host of the Bil-Warqa wa Al-Qalam program, stated that the brand new capital ought to function a “nationwide shrine” and an embodiment of goals, ambitions, achievements, and creativity.
Nonetheless, regardless of the unprecedented reward from Egyptian media shops and satellite tv for pc channels which can be utilizing the slogan “#The_New_Republic” throughout all broadcasts, observers imagine that the relocation faces some obstacles that the federal government has but to beat.
On July 11, Khaled al-Husseini, the official spokesman for the Administrative Capital Firm, stated that the development work of fifty embassies within the diplomatic district is scheduled to be accomplished in mid-2022.
However on Oct. 13, a diplomatic supply informed Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that the Ministry of Overseas Affairs contacted the international locations whose embassies are primarily based in Cairo to ask them to verify their relocation and pay between 20 and 25 p.c of the full worth of the property they’d be receiving.
Based on the supply, nonetheless, the Ministry of Overseas Affairs didn’t signal contracts with greater than ten international locations, whereas solely 40 international locations agreed to submit requests to relocate their embassies to the executive capital, and solely 5 embassies are literally relocating.
The supply stated that some main international locations discover it futile to relocate from Cairo and pay exorbitant costs and that some embassies query the capital’s viability in gentle of the problem of convincing residents to reside there and the anticipated each day journey backwards and forwards.
Throughout the launch of the challenge in 2015, the Ministry of Transport announced its intention to construct a monorail and specific electrical prepare, amongst different inside tasks equivalent to environmentally pleasant buses, with the intention to facilitate workers’ and residents’ commute to work. On Nov. 3, the Administrative Capital Firm announced the set up of the primary monorail with 4 vehicles and set an official date for the relocation.
Diaa el-Din Daoud, a member of the Parliament’s Legislative Committee, informed Al-Monitor that turning the executive capital into the capital of Egypt is unconstitutional, particularly the relocation of state businesses, such because the parliament and the Constitutional Court docket.
Article 114 of the Constitution states that the seat of the Home of Representatives is in Cairo. Article 191 states that the Supreme Constitutional Court docket is an unbiased judicial physique primarily based in Cairo. Article 222 additionally stipulates that “Cairo is the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt.”
The answer, Daoud stated, is to broaden the geographical scope of the Cairo governorate by a cupboard determination to be submitted to the Home of Representatives. Such a transfer is critical and potential given the federal government’s imaginative and prescient of a brand new capital and its harnessing of all prospects for the success of the challenge.
On March 9, Sisi said throughout his speech on the actions of the thirty third instructional symposium on the Day of the Martyr and the Previous Warrior that the brand new administrative capital represents the start of a brand new state and a brand new republic.
“We’re looking for to enhance the truth of Egyptians,” he stated.
