Following months of speculation that the whole project had been scrapped, construction on Egypt’s New capital city by two of China’s biggest developers could begin as early as next year.
The Egyptian government is targeting up to $45 billion in investments, and the agreements set to be finalized before the year’s end will bring the country closer to that target.
Earlier this month, heads from China Fortune Land Development Company (CFLD) met with Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi and agreed to provide $20 billion over the coming 10 years for the currently unnamed city mega project which is expected to break ground some 47 kilometers east of the current capital Cairo.
Hesham Sheta, chairman of Income – a partner in the project, said at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit that CFLD is likely to develop an area that will include factories, shopping malls, hospitals and universities in an area covering 70 sq km of the 750 sq km area devoted to the new capital.
This comes on top of a $3 billion loan secured by China State Construction Engineering Corporation earlier this year to build government facilities for the city, which would include ministry buildings, an opera house, and an expo center.
The city was announced in April 2015 during.
China’s investment is seen as part of its “One Road, One Belt” initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road as an economic trade imperative with other countries, one of which is Egypt.
China is also considered one of Egypt’s strongest trading partners.