Authoritarian Urbanism: How Egypt’s New Administrative Capital Consolidates the Regime’s Power
Egypt’s New Administrative Capital (NAC) is one of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s many projects aimed at boosting the nation’s economy and attracting foreign investment. Launched in 2015, the megadevelopment has made notable progress in its construction, with major government buildings completed and 48,000 government employees relocated to the new site. As of April 2024, the Egyptian Parliament officially began operating in the NAC, signalling a major political shift to the new administrative hub. Sisi claims that moving the government will improve bureaucratic efficiency by moving away from Cairo’s traffic-congested downtown core. However, critics question whether these stated goals align with the project’s true motivations.
Satellite imagery comparison of Egypt’s New Administrative Capital (NAC), showing the undeveloped site in 2014 (top) and significant progress in government and urban infrastructure by 2025 (bottom). Source: Google Earth.
Spanning 714 square kilometres, approximately the size of Singapore, the NAC is among the most ambitious city projects ever designed. It is expected to accommodate seven million residents, a bold target given that most new city developments typically project initial populations in the hundreds of thousands. Its massive scale fits into a broader pattern in Sisi’s leadership, where he prioritizes grandiose and prestigious government projects over practical development of Egyptian infrastructure. The construction of the ‘Iconic Tower’, Africa’s tallest skyscraper, standing at nearly 400 meters, in this new capital, epitomizes this approach. While residential projects remain mostly unfinished, Sisi has also completed the MENA region’s largest Opera house.
The New Administrative Capital has been accused of further consolidating the power of Egypt’s military, which holds a 51 per cent stake in the company overseeing the entire project: Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD). This majority ownership grants the military significant authority over planning, construction, and land sales. As a former general who rose to power through a military coup in 2013, President Sisi has enabled the armed forces to become a central political actor, well beyond their traditional role as defenders of national security. The military’s control over important contracts and its oversight of major partnerships have extended its global influence, including through deals with China’s State Construction Engineering Corporation, the project’s lead contractor. This growing influence over the city’s planning has raised concerns about how much further the military’s geopolitical reach will expand as the project moves forward.
The decision to build the New Administrative Capital roughly 48 kilometres east of Cairo has political implications. By situating the administrative institutions away from the nation’s historic center, Sisi’s government is able to strategically isolate itself from dense areas where protests, such as those during the Arab Spring, are most likely to occur. Placing the new capital in a more controlled location enables President Sisi to consolidate his authority, creating a fortified base from which the regime can further entrench its dominance and limit opportunities for public dissent.
View of government buildings in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, including landscaped boulevards and administrative complexes. “New Administrative Capital 4” by Abdelrhman 1990 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Further reinforcing this projection of state power is the NAC’s surveillance infrastructure, which has raised privacy concerns. Marketed as part of the city’s “smart” infrastructure, the NAC contains over 6,000 surveillance cameras. Developed by Honeywell, the system is linked to a centralized command center that tracks all activities, from traffic flow to suspicious individuals. While authorities frame this system as innovative urban management, it is suspected that they are aimed at restricting civil liberties.
I spoke with Sarah Moser, Associate Professor of Geography at McGill University, about the underlying implications of these surveillance systems. “They’ve built a city that’s almost revolution-proof,” Moser remarked, noting that the government has clearly learned its lesson from the Arab Spring. She explained that while these systems can have practical benefits, they take on a far more troubling role in authoritarian states. “If they’d had access to this kind of technology during the revolution, they probably could have quashed the Arab Spring almost immediately,” she said. Moser compared Egypt’s strategy to the heavy surveillance used in Hong Kong, where there was a state crackdown on democratic protests from 2018 to 2019. The NAC is part of a growing trend of authoritarian smart cities, where advanced technologies are being used to surveil citizens rather than serve them.
Another central concern surrounding the NAC is its $58 billion USD price tag. Initially, the government expected substantial private-sector investment and international loans. However, as the project has progressed, Egypt has struggled to secure external financing, shifting the burden onto public funds. These financial strains are harder to justify given the city’s inaccessibility. Although the NAC has been repeatedly promoted as a driver of large-scale job creation, it is presently only reachable by private car, a mode of transportation available to less than 10 per cent of Egyptians. This disconnect raises doubts about whether a project funded by public money will actually serve the public or remain out of reach for the people it claims to benefit.
Promotional materials for the New Administrative Capital showcase the project as a visionary solution to the country’s problems, using phrases like ‘smart city technology’ and ‘sustainable housing’ to attract investors. However, what these claims notably fail to mention is that the NAC is a luxury development unaffordable to most Egyptians. With two-bedroom apartments priced at about $50,000 USD in a country with a GDP per capita of around $3,000 USD, the city will likely become an elite enclave.
This raises a key question about the project’s stated goal of relieving social issues: how exactly will the NAC meaningfully reduce Cairo’s overcrowding when the wealthiest members of society (its intended residents) already live outside the densely populated core in gated communities?
Transportation is another one of the NAC’s most pressing issues. Despite plans for seven million residents, the city lacks the public transit infrastructure necessary to sustain that scale. “This is a city the size of Singapore,” explained Sarah Moser, “If you overlay Singapore’s metro system on top of the New Administrative Capital, they have decades of metro building to do ahead of them—and I don’t know if they’ve budgeted for that.” The NAC remains highly car-dependent, contrasting with the endless promises of eco-friendly development. “They’re building 16-lane highways through the capital complex. That doesn’t exactly indicate sustainability,” Moser added. These design choices are already shaping the city’s patterns of use, with many employees commuting from outside the city. Due to poor planning, the capital is becoming a commuter zone rather than a true urban center.
As it currently stands, Egypt’s New Administrative Capital risks being remembered not as a national achievement but as a vanity project that exacerbated inequality in a country already battling economic instability. Without a shift toward inclusivity and genuine public investment, the project could ultimately be regarded as a cautionary tale of disconnected leadership and authoritarian excess.
Featured image: View of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital. The ministry is one of several government offices relocated as part of the megaproject. “New Administrative Capital 1” by Abdelrhman 1990 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Edited by David Amm
