Why Egypt Is Building a New Capital City

Car dependent, zero urban transit & a city that'll be inimical to urban transit or walking, dependent on what from... where?

Reminds me of Brazil's similar experiment in the 1970s: Brasilia, a capital to be built at the geographic centre of the country regardless of where that was (swamp in a desert many hundreds of miles from anywhere). Visitors to S America in the 1970s will recall their ubiquitous lottery ticket-sellers. The joke at the time claimed the latest national lottery 1st prize would be two weeks all expenses paid for two in Brasilia; 2nd prize would be 2 months in Brasilia;  3rd prize would be 12 months in Brasilia.

At least New Cairo won't be hundreds of miles from Cairo: just far enough to be isolated from the mob (sorry, public). It seems to intend relocation of the country's ruling class & perhaps business elite away from Cairo. Given general levels of unrest & a history of instability I can understand why the government & moneyed class would want to be isolated from Cairo, but I wonder whether being isolated from the people they govern is wise.


This seems like a massive gated community for the 1%. And one wonders where the water will come from.