During the Egypt Economic Development Conference held in March at the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian government unveiled a vision for building a new capital city, a project unimaginatively christened The Capital Cairo. The master plan, designed by Skidmore Owings, & Merrill (SOM), was touted at the conference as one of several megaprojects that promise to transform Egypt’s economy, create jobs, and attract international investment. Heads of state, including Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, stood around an architectural model of the proposed capital and marveled at the prospect of a new city in a stretch of military-controlled desert between present-day Cairo and the Red Sea.
Given Egypt’s recent turbulent politics and dire human rights record, the relationship between the existing metropolis of Cairo and the proposed capital city is ambiguous: will the development be an independent twin city to the present-day Cairo less than 75 miles away? Will the proximity of the two cities risk turning the new capital project into yet another desert expansion like its two existing satellite cities, New Cairo and 6th of October City?
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