Why Egypt is Actually Shifting its Capital

The Reason Behind Relocation of Egypt's Capital

Cairo is Egypt's capital and biggest city. It has housed Egyptian monarchs and their palaces for decades. For the past 150 years, the Parliament has convened here. And Cairo's central public plaza has been the location of numerous revolutions. However, the Egyptian government declared in 2015 that the capital will be relocated around 50 kilometers further... To the desolate desert stretch that is soon becoming Egypt's New Administrative Capital. This is where a new presidential palace, a new Parliament building, and a new public square will be built.

Egypt's administration, led by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, argues that the new city would address a specific issue: Cairo's overcrowding. However, the country has a lengthy history of establishing new cities to relieve the congestion in Cairo. Today, many of them are parked outside the city. So, why is Cairo still seen as a ticking time bomb? And what is the true rationale for this additional capital? A population counter is located outside one of the ministries. It's banal, but it's also red, and flashing lights in these hues are nearly usually like telling people something.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

More than 100 million people call Egypt home. And around 20% of them are residents of Greater Cairo. With 153,000 inhabitants per square kilometer at its height, the city boasts one of the highest population densities in the world. Greater than Shanghai, London, and New York. As the seat of the Arab Fatimid Caliphate, Cairo was formally established on the banks of the Nile in the tenth century. The city had to be constructed close to the river because the remainder of the area was a desolate wasteland.

Over the following few centuries, each emperor expanded Cairo around fertile banks. These regions were established by the Ottomans, and the British added them during their decades-long control of Egypt. Cairo was by far the largest metropolis in the 1950s when the British left and Egypt declared a republic. Millions of underprivileged Egyptians from the countryside flocked to Cairo in quest of employment and better living circumstances throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. However, the clumsily created metropolis along the river was not designed to accommodate additional people. The city had already been formed and defined, and the green spaces around it had been left agricultural. And it was those neighborhoods that were inexpensive and near to amenities that allowed people to move in.

Because the available housing was insufficient. As a result, farmers began selling tiny parcels of agricultural land to migrants. Many people are forced to create for themselves on a shoestring budget. So whole families would go vertical on a little bit of land together. These were the first unofficial and technically illegal communities. It is informal since no building permits are issued. It is constructed outside of the economy, which is known as the "official economy." This is because the economic system excluded the vast bulk of the population.

Egypt's government has failed for decades to create cheap housing or invest in public services and infrastructure to accommodate Cairo's tremendous expansion in density. As a result, these unplanned and informal settlements got more congested until they reached crisis proportions. These informal areas now house 60% of Cairo's population. The majority of them are impoverished areas, although several have grown into middle-class communities. These are Cairo's most congested neighborhoods. And Egypt's administration, led by Sisi, sees them as the root cause of Cairo's overpopulation.

It is a really problematic narrative because it turns a subject of, say, terrible design or bad management from a state viewpoint and places the responsibility on the people who are suffering as a result of the bad design and bad policies, claiming that there are simply too many of you. The government still regards them as unlawful and refers to them as slums. From the state's perspective, labeling a place as a slum promotes its eradication. The government declared in 2019 that it will remove Cairo's slums by 2030. Many areas will be renovated as rich housing, while thousands of inhabitants will be evicted and relocated to inexpensive housing outside of the city.

Instead of focusing on enough affordable housing, they invested billions of dollars in a completely new metropolis elsewhere. And it's not the first time an Egyptian monarch has attempted to solve the situation by starting again in the desert. The notion of a new metropolis as a response to Cairo's rising population emerged in the 1950s. The first effort was under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ordered the development of a new metropolis dubbed Nasr City. It was also intended to be a new capital at the time. There would be room for government buildings, markets, and a massive new stadium. But there was a major issue. The proposal does not include affordable housing for Cairo's most densely populated districts.

A lot of low-income housing was required. But it was not going to be in the new capital. Nobody wants to construct a gleaming new capital just to populate it with low-cost homes. So it's a kind of trend that starts there. Egypt had a new leader by the 1970s, Anwar Sadat, who did not end up transferring the capital to Nasr City. However, he embraced the concept of constructing "desert cities." Egypt's government began constructing eight new settlements in the desert near Cairo in 1976. They all said that the purpose was to reduce congestion. However, the majority solely comprised wealthy houses. And few had public transit, making them inaccessible to those without a car.

As a result, many of these desert communities are only partially populated today. The majority of those who have migrated here are from Cairo's middle and upper classes. That implies that the bulk of the people who live in the tiny green belt that has been urbanized surrounding the Nile have been X'd out of these developments. So we're looking at a situation that has resulted from three to four decades of bad policy that has focused on the outside of the city.

President Sisi is following suit with his new capital. These neighborhoods are zoned for housing, but the majority of the people are middle and upper-class. Those individuals are not coming in with handouts. They purchase their properties there. As a result, the primary target audience is, once again, the wealthy class. Housing for low-income areas will be incorporated into the capital, although it will be quite restricted. This piece of land will be utilized for government buildings, and this section will be a commercial area with Africa's soon-to-be tallest structure.

So, if the purpose of this new capital isn't to solve Cairo's population density issue, why is the government so keen to create it? Protests erupted in Egypt in 2011 in response to police violence. They swiftly morphed into widespread calls for the departure of Egypt's 30-year-ruler, Hosni Mubarak. Demonstrations were held throughout Egypt. The largest, though, was in Cairo. Tahrir Square, to be precise. Since the early twentieth century, it has been the site of several political demonstrations. Because of its proximity to Egyptian government facilities, especially the Parliament.

For 18 days in 2011, millions of people filled Tahrir Square. They built up obstacles and fought the cops. On February 11, people marched from Tahrir Square to the presidential palace, a 10-kilometer march that eventually pushed Mubarak to resign. The demonstrators' ability to dominate Tahrir Square and inner Cairo essentially paralyzed the administration. Making their presence and demands difficult to ignore. Sisi recalls this. He was the commander of Egypt's formidable military when he seized power during the revolution in 2013. He ordered his army and police to crack down on anti-government demonstrators little than a month after assuming office. More than 800 individuals were slain in the violent raid.

Since then, he has worked tirelessly to avert a revolution that may destabilize him. His government has suppressed political criticism, penalized journalists, and hampered free expression. They are now renovating numerous features of Cairo to make it more difficult to demonstrate in the city. They've expanded hundreds of roadways, making barricades more difficult to create. They also intend to construct 40 bridges to facilitate military and police access to the city core. Sisi's administration has also rebuilt Tahrir Square, adding massive monuments and private security officers, which some analysts believe would make big gatherings more difficult to gather.

They are now taking the ultimate step: removing the government from Cairo totally. Government officials are beginning to move into new buildings just 7 years after declaring the construction of new capital. When that is finished, all of Egypt's political power, including Sisi, will be centralized here, about 50 kilometers from Cairo. The military's vast base nearby will be well guarded. The distance, along with the military presence, will enable Sisi to protect his position in the event of a revolt. Instead of becoming a capital that provides a solution for the people of Cairo, this metropolis is created to keep the government at bay.