A new Egyptian capital city will be built at a cost of $66 billion by a Gulf-based developer and is set to be approved within weeks, according to a press report.
The new capital, set to be built east of Cairo, will be entirely financed by the private sector and take 12 years to build, according to The National.
A Gulf-based developer will spearhead the development, Ashraf Salman, Egypt’s investment minster, told the newspaper.
“We’re talking a very big city. It is just the size of New Cairo itself … It is the ‘new New Cairo’,” the minister reportedly said.
“It is a whole city, with shops, retail, new industrial areas, new commercial areas, the government buildings and cities, residential areas,” he told the newspaper.
Salman did not name the developer, but the Dubai-listed Emaar has previously been said to have a “key role” in the project.
The deal is expected to be signed off at an investment conference in Egypt due to be held next month, according to The National.