An urban project of the Egyptian government drowns the most populous necropolis in the world
With an investment of billions of euros, the new Egyptian administrative capital is one of the great projects undertaken by Al Sisi. Its development can end the city of the dead, an emblem of Cairo.
An uncomfortable silence. There are no cars that raise dust or land dry from the ground. Not even the call to prayer and the solemnity of the Qur’an verses break with the burden of a unique place. Among the labyrinth of the city of the dead, in Cairo (Egypt), from time to time, curious eyes behind the curtains curtains of the windows and under the framework of the doors that welcome the mausoleums, which are home for about one million cairotas.
“What are you doing here?” Asks one of the few pedestrians. Farid – fictitious name – is supported on the wall of the last standing building before crossing a long esplanade of rubble. “What are you looking for?” He insists. In front of him, three men gather the bricks that, a few days ago, raised a house and, with the help of an oxidized truck, are forming small mountains of waste. In the background, three walls, collapsed, show an asphalted road that surrounds the city of the dead, also known as Al Arafa.
Behind shy eyes, a woman is a courageous and appears, rigid and solemn, under the frame of the door of her house. Accompanied by one of her small daughters, she suggests the living room of her home. In the middle of the room the tomb of a stranger rises. He greets his head and, a couple of seconds later, he hides again to see the camera. His daughter also drains from her hands. “Visiting the city of the dead as a journalist or curious is a challenge,” explains a reporter based in Cairo who prefers to maintain anonymity. “Many have stopped or expelled them from the area, especially when they take photographs of the president’s new works,” he adds.
One of the oldest active necropolis in the world – with more than 14 centuries of history – has succumbed to the urban plans of the Egyptian President, Abdelfatah al Sisi. In May 2023, the country’s government began to demolish the historical mausoleums despite the warnings of UNESCO and its status as a World Heritage Site since 1979. The new plan of the Egyptian leader went to join the center of Cairo with the new administrative capital, causing the demolition of tombs with more than 1 300 years of seniority, among which those of personalities stand out. Maqrizi, Cairota historian.
Double migration
Throughout the twentieth century, the city of the dead began to populate massively due to different historical and social factors. During the 1950s and 1960s, Cairo experienced unprecedented population growth pushed by rural-urban migration that oversized the capacity of urban centers to welcome new inhabitants. As a consequence of political inaction and the absence of urbanization policies, which did not meet the demand for affordable housing, thousands of people left the city center in search of alternatives in uninhabited areas, including the cemeteries themselves.
This massive interurban transfer coincided with two major war crises in the region: the six -day war in 1967 and the Yom Kippur conflict a few years later, in 1973. Both events deepened in the displacement of entire communities. In search of a temporary shelter, thousands of families saw a short -term exit in the city of the dead, whose mausoleums have underground rooms and courtyards. What was going to be a provisional exit became the most populous necropolis in the world in the absence of government intervention that prevented it.
Since 2019, a part of the families that participated in that forced mass transfer are being expelled from their home. Although there are no concrete figures on the exact number of affected persons – in the central government they translate them or non -governmental organizations have free access and with guarantees to the area – on the facades of hundreds of homes there are eviction warnings that notify the residents of the imminent demolition of their homes.
SISI macroprojects
The demolition of the historic necropolis is born from the project to build a highway that will link the center of Cairo with the new administrative capital, one of the urban whims of the current president. The layout and planning of the new route passes over the city of the dead, indifferent to those who live in its historical protection. These initiatives, although led by the central government, also have the support of local Cairotas and, specifically, of the Ibrahim Abdel Hady division general, vice -governor of the capital for the west region.
The last stretch of land, freshly flattened, coincides with the curve of a road, already paved, where cars condensed in traffic circulate. “Although Sisi does not need to excuse himself to launch his projects, he says that this road is for the good of the quality of life of the Cairotas, especially in regard to traffic and pollution,” the journalist explains from anonymity. When joining the asphalted tongue and more than 60 kilometers later, a row of skyscrapers appears in the middle of the desert. It is the new administrative capital.
The high buildings are accompanied by a pair of whitish mosques, with the marble of the ground without brand new and a hundred housing built and, until now, uninhabited. An oasis of 730 square kilometers for the high political, economic and ministerial classes, a shelter for the country’s oligarchs. The project began to be built in 2017 and has had the labor of 150,000 people. According to official data, only in the first phase of construction, whose completion is scheduled for 2030, the equivalent of 23 billion euros has been disbursed.
Near the one will be the new presidential palace and in front of the triumph arch, a tier with capacity for around 500 spectators is raised. At the top, engraved in gold, the Saladin eagle that holds the Egyptian national flag is caught on its chest. In the project of the new administrative capital, beyond the political, military influence is also present. A 51 % public company by the Armed Forces leads the construction. 29 % are in the hands of the Ministry of Housing of Egypt.
Chinese imprint
The project was initially presented in March 2015 at Sharm El Sheij, about a year after the SISI came to power in Egypt. At first, the plans were led by a consortium near Emaar, a construction of United Arab Emirates, and Som, an architectural office in the United States. At the end of that same year, and coinciding with the official visit of the president of China, Xi Jinping, Al Sisi decided to assign the construction agreement to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), the public entity of the Asian country.
The CSCEC is the largest construction company in the world and the eighth largest contractor in terms of sales abroad. In addition to their role in the new administrative capital, there are several projects in Egypt with Chinese imprint.
For example, in the Chinese-Gipto economic and commercial cooperation zone, near the Suez Canal, has built a development area that houses companies, both Chinese and Egyptian, in sectors such as textiles, machinery or petrochemicals, among others. China has also collaborated in the Electrified Light Rail project that connects Cairo with another of the most urbanized peripheral cities in the area, the city of Ramadán. The influence of the Asian country also permeates other sectors such as culture. Chinese archaeological teams collaborate with Egypt in joint excavations, as in the Montu temple in Luxor, in addition to other educational collaboration plans. Even so, in China Africa it is not only operating in Egypt, it is also present in other macroprojects such as the great mosque of Algiers (Algeria), as well as in the conference center of the African Union in Adís Abeba (Ethiopia).
Urban self -confidence and millionaire agreements
Egypt faces serious economic difficulties and significant indebtedness with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite having received around $ 3 billion in loans from this institution, the country has not fulfilled the commitments assumed. On November 30, 2023, during the COP28 in Dubai, the Egyptian President reaffirmed before the director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, the intention of Egypt to carry out the necessary reforms.
Since the SISI assumed power in 2013, the country’s debt has tripled. State subsidies have not been reduced or strategic sectors have been privatized, which are still controlled by the Armed Forces. In 2022, one of its agencies obtained exclusive rights to manage commercial activities in more than 30 Islands of the Nile River, in addition to other areas of the country, such as Alexandria.
On the other hand, in recent years – although in 2024 improvements were reported – inflation reached record levels, reaching 40 % in September 2023. According to World Bank data, the poverty rate in 2019 stood at 60 %, twice the one reported by official sources.
For a while, Egypt was held thanks to foreign investment, which helped cover its deficit. The high interest rates, higher than inflation, made the country an attractive destination for investors. However, this fragile stability broke after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which caused an increase in raw material prices. Egypt, dependent on imported wheat to feed about 72 million people through subsidized programs, was severely affected. The flour, fundamental in the Egyptian diet, became a symbol of the crisis. As the global interest rates amounted, about 20 billion dollars left the country. This unleashed an economic crisis that has led to three successive devaluations of the Egyptian pound, which has reduced the value of the currency to half.
To the economic crisis is added the lack of freedom of the press and access to information, which, according to Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid and an expert in a contemporary Arab and Islamic world, could generate “outbreaks of revolution in the near future.” Egypt is in the last place of the Academic Freedom Index, together with countries such as Türkiye, China and Saudi Arabia. Since 2014, the Government has intensified repression, imprisoned professionals linked to the opposition, as well as activists and journalists. “The left in Egypt has struggled to keep the spark of the revolution alive, a spark that Al Sisi has always tried to extinguish,” concludes the expert.
