20 new cities of the fourth generation are settled to be constructed in Egypt in bid to increase residential area, improve life quality and absorb population surge in the most populous Arab country.
Confirming the reports, Egypt's Prime Minister Mostapha Madbouly said that the county’s recent Urban Communities Authority of the Ministry of Housing will build the cities in a vast area of 243,600 hectares and is expected to accommodate about 30 million people.
The new cities will be established in the provinces of Luxor, Qalyubia, Matrouh, Daqahliya, Beheira, Giza, Port Said, Cairo, North Sinai, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, Qena and Aswan, while the largest such city is the New Administrative Capital situated east of the capital Cairo.
Saif al-Ddin Farag, Cairo-based planning expert, said that the fourth generation cities are integrated cities with regards to the use of advanced technologies and availability of services in infrastructure and facilities.
The expert said, “The establishment of 20 fourth-generation cities is a good start. Egypt certainly needs to build these cities, using the latest technologies to provide a better life to Egyptians in addition to providing millions of jobs, as only 7% of Egypt’s territory is currently occupied. The establishment of the new cities will attract and redistribute people across the country,”
The new cities will harbor a new Administrative Capital, residential projects, wholesale market, service projects, distinctive residential plots of land, integrated urban projects and malls, integrated urban communities, dry port and a city for craftsmen, industrial zone, social housing units, seawater, desalination planet and logistics areas.
At present Egypt constitutes the 13th most populated country in the world, having a population of more than 100 million. But only seven percent of Egypt’s urban territory is currently fit for occupancy. This has led to a surge in population density, especially in provinces such as Alexandria, Cairo and Giza. As a result, New Urban Communities Authority targets to increase this percentage to 14 by the year 2050 .