Will Cairo Always Be the Capital of Egypt?

With nearly 20 million residents, Cairo has more than twice the population of New York City and is home to about 20 percent of Egypt’s total population. The historic capital is crowded, its infrastructure is overwhelmed, and getting around town is a traffic nightmare. That’s why, for the past four years, a new city has been rising up from a flat stretch of desert between the Nile River and the Suez Canal. The as-yet-unnamed city is expected to eventually replace Cairo as Egypt’s capital. The government plans to move all of its 34 ministry operations to the new city by June 2019.

Suddenly, a new city:

• The new capital is being touted as a high-tech metropolis, with state-of-the-art fire detection services, a “smart traffic system,” and more green space than New York’s Central Park.
• The city will also include a mega-mall, residential districts, a science and tech campus, and a massive cultural complex featuring an opera house, performance theaters, and a cinema.
• Forty years ago, Egypt built the all-new Sadat City on a large tract of desert land between Cairo and Alexandria, hoping it would become a thriving urban center. Today, only about 150,000 people live there.