"The people are angry" Egypt is building a magnificent new capital - but no one wants to live there
Africa's tallest skyscraper and a planned artificial Nile: Egypt is building a new, ultra-modern capital city in the middle of the desert. Criticism of the mega-project is loud. blue News was on site.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Egypt has been building a gigantic new capital in the desert since 2015.
- Despite the monumental infrastructure and the government apparatus that has already been relocated, the city looks more like a shielded prestige and administrative project than a lively urban space.
- Critics see it as an expensive, politically motivated elite project that exacerbates social problems, ties up resources and primarily benefits the military and those close to the regime.
It is one of the largest construction projects in the world. Around 45 kilometers east of Cairo, Egypt has been building a new capital since 2015 - in the middle of the desert. It is to become the seat of government, financial center and home to around 6.5 million people.
And they are thinking big: the 394-metre-high "Iconic Tower" skyscraper is already the tallest building in Africa. By 2030, the "Oblisco Capitale" skyscraper with a height of 1,000 meters is set to replace the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the tallest building in the world. The name of the city seems almost modest in comparison: Until now, it has simply been called "New Administrative Capital".
Anyone traveling from the old to the new capital will experience a rupture. Beyond Cairo, one of the largest, most chaotic and densest conurbations in the Arab world, the landscape becomes increasingly empty:
Desert, sand, newly drawn roads, fewer and fewer residential complexes, but billboards galore. The new cemetery is also passed. But unlike in Cairo, the city of the dead, no people live here.
A city as if from nowhere
Then a skyline suddenly appears on the horizon, as if someone had superimposed Dubai, Washington and a rendering from an investor brochure and placed it in the middle of the void. This unreality is the first strong impression of this city.
At more than 700 square kilometers, the project area is gigantic. By comparison, the municipal area of the city of Zurich covers around 90 square kilometers. The government's ambition is no less colossal: to relieve the burden on Cairo, modernize the country, attract investors and create a smart city for the 21st century. However, this self-description alone reveals what it is essentially about: an image of power and the future in concrete.
This image of power is immediately visible on site. Even the entrance gate is strongly reminiscent of a triumphal arch. Three obviously bored police officers lethargically wave the vehicles through. On practically car-free, five- and eight-lane roads, the route to the center leads past traffic circles that seem larger than some squares in European city centers, boulevards, prestigious facades and zones with names such as Government City, Business City or Sports City.
Monumental, but deserted
Arrival in the future: monumental gateways mark the entrance to the new capital - a symbolic transition from old Cairo to a planned world.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
There are several such gateways along the access roads. They stage the city as a project of national importance - big ideas, big construction.
The orientation is clear: wide streets, huge signs. But there are still gaps between the neighborhoods - a lot of desert, a lot of undeveloped land.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Building site everywhere: excavators continue to work on the next prestigious project. In the background, the Central Business District is growing - with the Iconic Tower, Africa's tallest skyscraper.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Lunch break in a sandstorm: workers brave the wind and heat. The new capital is being built under harsh conditions - in the middle of the desert.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
First skyline in sight: the Central Business District is taking shape. But scaffolding and rubble still dominate all around - the city is still in the making.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Lots of space, hardly any movement: Huge traffic circles are planned for millions. Only a few cars drive here today - lots of infrastructure, little life.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Housing for the elite: modern apartments are being built in the compounds - with prices starting at around 200,000 US dollars. By comparison, the average wage in Egypt is often just a few hundred US dollars a month.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Almost finished, but empty: entire apartment blocks are ready - but many apartments are still unoccupied. The city is waiting for its residents.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
"A Whole New Way of Life" advertises a real estate company on posters. The vision is clearly sold - but for the time being it remains a promise that not everyone can afford.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
There are even cycle paths. But with the heat, dust and long distances, it remains to be seen whether there will ever be much cycling traffic here.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Arrival in the future: monumental gateways mark the entrance to the new capital - a symbolic transition from old Cairo to a planned world.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
There are several such gateways along the access roads. They stage the city as a project of national importance - big ideas, big construction.
The orientation is clear: wide streets, huge signs. But there are still gaps between the neighborhoods - a lot of desert, a lot of undeveloped land.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Building site everywhere: excavators continue to work on the next prestigious project. In the background, the Central Business District is growing - with the Iconic Tower, Africa's tallest skyscraper.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Lunch break in a sandstorm: workers brave the wind and heat. The new capital is being built under harsh conditions - in the middle of the desert.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
First skyline in sight: the Central Business District is taking shape. But scaffolding and rubble still dominate all around - the city is still in the making.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Lots of space, hardly any movement: Huge traffic circles are planned for millions. Only a few cars drive here today - lots of infrastructure, little life.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Housing for the elite: modern apartments are being built in the compounds - with prices starting at around 200,000 US dollars. By comparison, the average wage in Egypt is often just a few hundred US dollars a month.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Almost finished, but empty: entire apartment blocks are ready - but many apartments are still unoccupied. The city is waiting for its residents.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
"A Whole New Way of Life" advertises a real estate company on posters. The vision is clearly sold - but for the time being it remains a promise that not everyone can afford.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
There are even cycle paths. But with the heat, dust and long distances, it remains to be seen whether there will ever be much cycling traffic here.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Everything is ordered, monumental, functionally separated. But life does not seem to have found its way here yet. According to most estimates, around 10,000 people live in the planned megacity today. "The government says it is building this city for the people, but where are the people?" says a resident of Cairo to blue News. "This is a dead city. Everything here is dead," adds a worker involved in the construction of the business skyscrapers. Both want to remain anonymous. The fear of consequences from the government is too great.
Another example of local gigantism: "An artificial Nile is soon to be built here," says a worker to blue News. This refers to the planned Green River Park, an urban park covering around 2,500 hectares - around six times the size of Central Park in New York. A river is to run through the middle of the park, which will one day be filled by two pipelines that could consume around one percent of Egypt's Nile water, according to the Reuters news agency.
Unlike the business district, the government district is already bustling with activity. The entire government apparatus has already moved its headquarters here. Far away from Tahrir Square in the center of Cairo, the symbol of the 2011 revolution, where tens of thousands of citizens demonstrated peacefully against police violence, corruption and for the overthrow of long-time autocrat Husni Mubarak, which ultimately led to his resignation.
Center of power far from the population
This spatial separation is politically charged. The renowned Egyptian architect Yasser Elsheshtawy, who lives abroad, describes the new capital in the Pakistani newspaper "Dawn" as part of a long tradition of autocratic megaprojects. "This is how regimes cement their power and want to make control visible," says Elsheshtawy.
He draws on the concept of "desert dreams" by Scottish urban researcher David Sim: the old Egyptian state fantasy of creating a new, orderly Egypt in the desert. But Elsheshtawy goes even further and describes the city as a kind of "green zone" of the regime, i.e. a shielded place where power is physically distanced from the population. The fact that you suddenly no longer feel like you are in a city when you enter through the gates and controls, but rather like you are in a guarded administrative area, fits in pretty well with this interpretation. The city is not simply built, it is staged.
Monumental and almost intimidating: the new parliament building in the "New Administrative Capital" looks like a power center made of stone - built to visibly relocate the state into the desert. All around: wide axes, little life.
Image: KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
Power project with a face: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promotes his capital in front of new government buildings. The state is pressing ahead with the move - ministries, civil servants and even foreign embassies are to follow, supported by targeted offers and a specially created diplomatic district.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Banque Misr has already flown the flag: The black glass building stands as a symbol of the financial sector following the government into the new capital. Everything still looks sterile - and almost oversized. This is particularly evident in the immediate surroundings.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
A huge traffic circle in front of the bank buildings - designed for traffic that isn't even there yet. Only a few cars, lots of space, lots of emptiness. The new capital is built for the future - but in everyday life it still lacks dynamism. Instead, symbolic gestures dominate.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Attention to detail down to the smallest detail: The monumental pillars on the traffic circle are covered in ones and zeros - a reference to the vision of the new capital as a "smart city". Digitalization is not only planned here, but actually carved in stone.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Gigantic and futuristic: the oversized parasol in the government district looks like a landmark. Such constructions are intended to provide shade and make the extreme desert climate more bearable - high-tech to combat the heat.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Reality instead of vision: many government employees are still being bussed from Cairo to the new capital every day. So far, only a few can or want to live here - the city does not yet function independently, but only as a commuter destination. This is set to change as the infrastructure grows.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Transport as a beacon of hope: the new monorail is already hovering over the desert - a project worth billions that is to connect Cairo with the new capital. The line is over 50 kilometers long and is expected to transport up to 10,000 passengers per hour. Once it is fully opened, the artificial city should move closer to everyday life.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Monumental and almost intimidating: the new parliament building in the "New Administrative Capital" looks like a power center made of stone - built to visibly relocate the state into the desert. All around: wide axes, little life.
Image: KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
Power project with a face: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promotes his capital in front of new government buildings. The state is pressing ahead with the move - ministries, civil servants and even foreign embassies are to follow, supported by targeted offers and a specially created diplomatic district.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Banque Misr has already flown the flag: The black glass building stands as a symbol of the financial sector following the government into the new capital. Everything still looks sterile - and almost oversized. This is particularly evident in the immediate surroundings.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
A huge traffic circle in front of the bank buildings - designed for traffic that isn't even there yet. Only a few cars, lots of space, lots of emptiness. The new capital is built for the future - but in everyday life it still lacks dynamism. Instead, symbolic gestures dominate.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Attention to detail down to the smallest detail: The monumental pillars on the traffic circle are covered in ones and zeros - a reference to the vision of the new capital as a "smart city". Digitalization is not only planned here, but actually carved in stone.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Gigantic and futuristic: the oversized parasol in the government district looks like a landmark. Such constructions are intended to provide shade and make the extreme desert climate more bearable - high-tech to combat the heat.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Reality instead of vision: many government employees are still being bussed from Cairo to the new capital every day. So far, only a few can or want to live here - the city does not yet function independently, but only as a commuter destination. This is set to change as the infrastructure grows.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Transport as a beacon of hope: the new monorail is already hovering over the desert - a project worth billions that is to connect Cairo with the new capital. The line is over 50 kilometers long and is expected to transport up to 10,000 passengers per hour. Once it is fully opened, the artificial city should move closer to everyday life.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
The Egyptian government tells a different story. From their point of view, this project is a logical response to the congestion in the former capital. Greater Cairo has been groaning for decades under traffic, air pollution, informal development and enormous population pressure.
Between vision and reality
The retort city is supposed to be a model for Egypt's future. In fact, parts of this program have already been implemented. Thousands of state employees commute there every day - Reuters writes of almost 48,000 employees per day. According to official figures, around 100,000 housing units have also been completed. President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi even took the oath of office there in 2024.
Driving through the city, the government's priorities are quickly apparent: the mosques are finished, the large Coptic cathedral is standing, universities are in operation, schools exist and work on the electric train link to Cairo city center is well advanced. People are working, teaching and governing - but not yet living and working to the extent that the official narrative of the new urban life suggests.
Lots of prestige, little everyday life
This is precisely where the fundamental criticism begins, which becomes clear in every conversation with locals: This city has so far functioned solely as an administrative and prestige project. "People are angry because the government is spending all the money here instead of where people actually live," says one worker.
This is consistent with the impression on the ground: little everyday life, little density, little spontaneous urbanity. There are cafés, restaurants, stores and carefully designed consumption islands - albeit centered on one square. Everywhere else they are banished from the cityscape. There is no sign of friction, mixing and overlapping: of people living, shopping, waiting, arguing, children playing ball somewhere, delivery vans standing in the way, neighbors knowing each other, improvised kiosks springing up on street corners.
There is only "human activity" in the peripheral zones of the construction site: women sell halawa, a kind of crêpe filled with sugar cane syrup or honey, to the workers, who often rest by the roadside. There is no longer much trace of the hustle and bustle of the start of construction, when an entire city was built from the ground up in just a few years. The oversized "I love the New Capital" letters, a typical Instagram motif, have already collected dust from the ongoing construction work.
The city is surrounded by high walls. Behind them are a multitude of upper-class suburbs. The Qantara portal writes of a "veritable fortress for the state, military and social elites, who can sit out the storm on Egypt's streets here in peace and quiet in the event of a new uprising".
This criticism is exacerbated when looking at the housing market. The Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC), a non-profit organization based in the USA, states in a report that affordable housing has already been removed from parts of the original vision. The city is creating an oversupply of high-priced housing for which there are probably not enough buyers.
Architect Elsheshtawy also does not see retort cities in the desert as a solution to Egypt's urban problems. On the contrary: resources would be sucked out of the population's actual living spaces.
Who benefits from the mega-city?
The financing of the gigantic project does indeed raise questions. President El-Sisi has repeatedly claimed that the Egyptian state will not pay "a single cent" for the new capital. The MEDC report contradicts this claim: a large proportion of the funds raised so far have indeed come from public resources, whether through direct state spending, the sale of state land, state-subsidized loans or state debt.
The same report describes the new capital as a redistribution "from the people to the generals": as the central supervisor and co-owner, the military profits disproportionately, companies close to the regime receive lucrative contracts, often without any real transparency, and foreign companies - from Qatar or China, for example - also earn money from the mega construction site. At the same time, Egypt has been characterized by currency turbulence, high inflation, an acute shortage of foreign currency and a deep debt crisis in recent years.
The many monuments are certainly impressive. The Misr Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, stands out in particular as an architectural landmark. It offers space for over 100,000 people, making it the largest mosque in the whole of Africa.
Monumental and almost unreal: the Misr Mosque rises up in the heart of the new capital. With its enormous domes and minarets, it is one of the largest mosques in Egypt - built as a religious counterpart to the new center of power.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Detail of stone and sky: the intricate decorations on the minaret and façade show how strongly the architecture is based on classic Islamic forms - only one size larger, more massive, more stately.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Superlative interior: there is room for thousands of worshippers. The huge prayer hall is lined with a continuous blue carpet that defines the rows of prayers - almost like a sea of fabric.
The huge area is cleaned using powerful, partly automated systems - several times a day between prayers.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Numerous Korans are laid out along the walls - there are said to be thousands of them so that large prayer groups can be catered for at all times. Here, too, the claim to size and representation is evident.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Light as staging: the monumental chandelier under the dome is a central element - multi-level, circular and with hundreds of lamps. It bathes the room in warm light and enhances the effect of the already gigantic dimensions.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Behind the scenes: The army officer responsible for the facility, the representative of the Ministry of Tourism, the local guide - and two journalists from Switzerland. A group picture that shows: The new capital is also a political and media project.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Monumental and almost unreal: the Misr Mosque rises up in the heart of the new capital. With its enormous domes and minarets, it is one of the largest mosques in Egypt - built as a religious counterpart to the new center of power.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Detail of stone and sky: the intricate decorations on the minaret and façade show how strongly the architecture is based on classic Islamic forms - only one size larger, more massive, more stately.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Superlative interior: there is room for thousands of worshippers. The huge prayer hall is lined with a continuous blue carpet that defines the rows of prayers - almost like a sea of fabric.
The huge area is cleaned using powerful, partly automated systems - several times a day between prayers.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Numerous Korans are laid out along the walls - there are said to be thousands of them so that large prayer groups can be catered for at all times. Here, too, the claim to size and representation is evident.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Light as staging: the monumental chandelier under the dome is a central element - multi-level, circular and with hundreds of lamps. It bathes the room in warm light and enhances the effect of the already gigantic dimensions.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Behind the scenes: The army officer responsible for the facility, the representative of the Ministry of Tourism, the local guide - and two journalists from Switzerland. A group picture that shows: The new capital is also a political and media project.
Image: Christian Thumshirn
Visitors can only enter if accompanied by an officer. Visibly proud, he rattles off the monstrous figures for the building. 84 surveillance cameras, 34 air conditioning systems and eight-ton chandeliers are just a few examples. He reels off the data at an impressive pace - although he is interrupted every few minutes by his Lady Gaga ringtone.
In Egypt, at least the members of the army are behind the mega-project. But whether the new capital will one day function like a real city will not be decided by square kilometers or skyscrapers. It will depend on whether the Egyptian people want to stay there.
