In Egypt, a huge “New Administrative Capital” is being built, approximately 45km (28 miles) to the east of Cairo, on a swath of desert equal to the size of Singapore.

If you take a walk or drive across Cairo, you may be tempted to think that the Egyptian government embarked on this multi-billion-dollar project to meet an urgent need.

Indeed, the current capital is hardly functioning. Ministries and embassies surrounding Cairo’s central Tahrir Square are clogging the city’s arteries. With many streets blocked to ensure the security of these buildings and their occupants, it is at times impossible to go from A to B in the city. Moreover, the already overcrowded capital’s 22-million population is expected to double by 2050.

So it is easy to believe the New Administrative Capital, which is expected to house embassies, government agencies, the parliament, 30 ministries, a spiralling presidential compound and some 6.5 million people when completed, is a necessity. It seems that it will not only move administrative buildings out of Cairo, but also create much-needed housing. Moreover, the government committed to allocate 15 square metres of green space per inhabitant in the new development. The new capital will have a central “green river”, a combination of open water and planted greenery twice the size of New York’s Central Park. So the project is also being sold as an effort to tackle pollution and make Egypt “greener”.

But if you look beneath the surface, and most importantly, follow the money, you will clearly see this project is much more than an altruistic effort by the government to decongest Cairo and improve the living conditions of the city’s inhabitants.

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