Alwaght- A deal worth $15 billion was announced between Egyptian authorities and China State Construction Engineering Corp. to build a new administrative and business capital for Egypt on 270 square miles of desert land.
When President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced an ambitious plan to build a new administrative and business capital for Egypt many were understandably skeptical about the $45 billion project.
But today according to Wall Street Journal website some of the skepticism over that March 2015 announcement has eased. One reason: an alliance announced in January between Egyptian authorities and China State Construction Engineering Corp. giving the Chinese-state owned business a major role in the project.
Neither side announced details of the agreement and it remains unclear whether the Chinese construction company, one of the world’s largest, has made a major financial commitment. But state media in Egypt reported that the deal was worth $15 billion in loans, grants and memorandums of understanding.
Al-Sisi, who took power through a bloody military coup in 2013 after a popular uprising unseated Hosni Mubarak, has been trying to use megaprojects to inject confidence in his regime. The president’s political stock has been badly hit since by a series of international and domestic problems, while the economy continues to struggle as tourism and foreign direct investment remain sluggish amid concerns about security after a spate of recent terror attacks.
