Egypt’s President Sisi wants to reshape its cities
The rich will get luxury homes and quick commutes. The poor fear displacement
TO JUDGE BY his social-media feeds, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi missed his calling as a foreman. Egypt’s general-turned-president, who seized power in a coup in 2013, spends a fair bit of time on construction sites, poring over blueprints and chatting with men in hard hats. On February 28th he boarded a plane for a bird’s-eye view of the vast new capital rising in the eastern desert (see map). The $58bn project is still a construction site. After years of delays, though, the government hopes to start moving civil servants this month.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Egypt tries to reshape its cities”
Middle East & Africa March 5th 2022
From the March 5th 2022 edition
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