Egyptian drivers are stuck in congestion by the open-air market of El Ataba in Cairo on March 23, 2018. (FETHI BELAID / AFP)
CAIRO – The Egyptian government will start the process in December of moving offices to a new administrative capital located east of Cairo, a spokesman for the presidency said on Wednesday in a statement.
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President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi "directed the government to start the actual transfer to the government district in the New Administrative Capital starting in December for a trial period of 6 months," he said.
Being built some 50 km east of the capital Cairo since 2015 on an area of 714 square km, the new administrative capital is planned to accommodate 6.5 million people to ease congestion in Cairo, which houses one-fifth of the country's 100 million population. Half a million people will be moving into the new capital in the first stage.
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The city will include a government district, a business district, vast parks and a diplomatic district.
The government also expects the new capital to create around 2 million job opportunities.
