Egypt is preparing to spend billions doubling the size of a lavish new capital it is building in the desert 45 km (28 miles) east of Cairo, where the first residents are trickling in, the head of the company overseeing the project said.
The city is the biggest of a series of mega-projects that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says are needed for economic development and to accommodate a growing population of 105 million, but critics say divert resources and increase Egypt's debt burden.
Government employees transferred in July to ministries and offices built in the new city's first phase, eight years after the launch of the project known as the New Administrative Capital (NAC).
Electric train
"We have almost 48,000 employees coming every day," Khaled Abbas, chairman of the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), told Reuters news agency.
Built on virgin land, the city is designed to serve as a high-tech model for Egypt's future away from the clutter and chaos of Cairo. The government wants it to absorb part of Egypt’s population, which is growing by an estimated 1.6% a year.
Though the pace of works appears to have slowed recently, phase one of the city already includes a 70-storey tower - the tallest in Africa - an opera house with five halls, a mega mosque and the Middle East's biggest cathedral.
An electric train from eastern Cairo began operating last spring and an elevated monorail is due to start from the second quarter of this year, Abbas said.
Banks to relocate
Up to 100,000 housing units have been finished and 1,200 families have moved in, he added.
Major banks and other businesses will move their headquarters by the first quarter of 2024.
ACUD is poised to appoint a consultant to draw up a master plan for the capital's second, third and fourth phases, Abbas said.
Phases one and two will each have a projected 1.5 million residents, and each will cover 40,000 feddans (168 square km). Work on phase two should run from later this year until 2027.
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