Why Egypt built a new capital

A city in the desert

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the project in March 2015. Officials put the cost at $45 billion, on 700 km² of state-owned land in the desert east of Cairo.^[2] Building began in 2016.^[3] The site lies about 45 km from Cairo, between the roads to Suez and the Red Sea, and earlier plans for a new desert capital had failed.^[1]

The government’s main argument was relief for Cairo: Greater Cairo holds about 22 million people and is one of the most densely populated places in the world.^[3] Critics said the money was needed elsewhere, and some argued that a government far from Cairo would also be far from protests like those in Tahrir Square in 2011.^[3]

Who pays

The city is built by the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), a company owned 51 percent by military bodies and 49 percent by the housing ministry’s New Urban Communities Authority.^[2] Officials say it is paid for by selling land, not from the state budget. Because the military owns the majority, parliament cannot review its accounts, and economists quoted by Mada Masr argued that state land is public money all the same.^[2]

Estimates later rose to $58 billion.^[2][4] By 2024 ACUD said the first phase had cost about 500 billion Egyptian pounds ($10.6 billion) and the second would cost about 300 billion.^[3]

The government moves

In March 2023 Sisi was already meeting his cabinet there.^[6] From January 2024 all government ministries moved into its government district, and the cabinet office, the House of Representatives and the Central Bank followed.^[7] About 48,000 government employees were working there by March 2024, many commuting from eastern Cairo by electric train.^[3]

On 2 April 2024 Sisi took the oath for his third term in the new parliament building there.^[4] The city also has Africa’s tallest building, the 385-metre Iconic Tower, and the largest cathedral in the Middle East.^[3]

Capital or not?

Egypt’s constitution says “Cairo is the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt”, and that the House of Representatives sits in Cairo.^[5] Supporters of the move, such as the lawmaker Mohamed Attia Al-Fayoumi, answer that the new city is legally part of Cairo, so neither rule is broken.^[7]

In November 2025 the city’s developer began calling it simply “The New Capital” in all official communications.^[8][7] In February 2026 a draft local government law proposed making it a province with special status inside Cairo, run by a head appointed by the president, and renaming it Memphis, after the capital of ancient Egypt. Both ideas were debated, and the name was criticised.^[7]

“Cairo is the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt.”^[5]