New smart city to be built in Aswan

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newcastle
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Egypt

New smart city to be built in Aswan

Post by newcastle »

"Smart" isn't usually the first epithet one thinks of in relation to Egypt's developmental decisions.....Cairo's satellite cities, the New Capital, the Suez Canal extension, the remodeling of Luxor as an "Open Museum" etc. etc.

Obviously the meme definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result....isn't given any credibility by Egypt's masters. But we'll see.

"The governor of Aswan, Major General Magdy Hegazy, announced the start of the designing of a smart model green city in the western desert of the ancient city of Aswan on an area of ​​just over 4000 acres, in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 311 of 2017.

Hegazy added during a field tour to the site of the new urban city, accompanied by the directors of Urban Planning, Environment, Health and Manpower departments of Aswan, that the new city will be established as part of future urban expansions to accommodate the population density in the old city of Aswan under the strategic plan, named Aswan 2052.

The detailed outline of the new city includes different types of housing units such as for youth as well as medium income earners and economic and investment housing, he said.

An area for tourism has also been included in the plan, including the construction of resorts and hotels, cinemas, a theatre, parks, and malls."

http://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt-t ... -in-aswan/


He added that the city is also to house a complex of medical centers that would be built according to an “international architectural style”.......whatever that is.

Egypt has been building so-called ‘new cities’ in its vast desert since the late 1970s when the government initiated a large-scale urban expansion program. As part of a global trend, often referred to as the “New Towns Movement,” one of the main reasons behind the urban expansion was to alleviate population pressure from the narrow Nile Valley where most of Egypt’s people reside.

Egypt has constructed some 23 new urban settlements since the 1970s, with more in the pipeline, including the not-yet-finished New Administrative Capital, slated for inauguration next year.

The urban expansion scheme has been heavily criticized by urban development experts for not developing existing cities, which suffer from major congestion problems, insufficient infrastructure, and pollution.

Another critique is that none of the new cities have fulfilled their population targets, and have been described as ghost towns, as many of the housing units there remain vacant.

In addition, land speculation has become a major problem and the government has been criticized for prioritizing the interests of private investors who buy plots of land and sell them to the highest bidder when prices go up. A building plot in Hurghada was recently sold for 30,000EGP per sq mtr!!

Meanwhile, Egypt is suffering from a housing crisis, whereby the state is failing to accommodate the housing needs of an increasingly growing population.

On the positive side, the development should have no problems with power supply, given the proximity of the High Dam and the Solar Power project destined for Benban.

It should also supply much needed job opportunities.

Presumably much of the construction will , once again, be performed by the army. Many of the khaki-wearers labouring in the hot sun come from that neck of the woods.....so another 'plus' is that they won't have too far to go to see their families.


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