Egypt’s Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem el-Gazzar and Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) Holding, have laid the foundation stone for Noor City project in Capital Gardens City.
The project is located close to the New Administrative Capital (NAC), and is being developed in partnership between TMG subsidiary, the Arab Company for Urban Investment, and the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA). The project is being implemented on an area of 5,000 feddan, with a total investment of LE0.5tr.
Noor City is scheduled to include 140,000 housing units, namely buildings and villas, accommodating about 600,000 people. This is alongside commercial, administrative, government, and other service areas, which will generate taxes for the state worth LE110b, and provide about 3.3m regular and irregular jobs.
El-Gazzar affirmed that his ministry has adopted the partnership method with the private sector. This falls in line with the state’s policy of involving the private sector in the Egyptian state’s comprehensive development process, which has been implemented since President Abdel Fattah El Sisi took office.
The minister noted that the idea of partnership with NUCA depends on allocating land to a major real estate development company, known for its efficiency, and has a great experience in real estate field.
The authority provides facilities in paying land value, allowing for payments in different phases, and in various ways. This includes cash and in-kind payment, with these facilities corresponding to the authority having a share of the project’s units that NUCA determines.
For his part, Moustafa said: “Noor City has been chosen with great care, to be in front of the NAC, and on the most important axes of urban development in Egypt, east of Cairo, which is expected to witness the increasing population of this region from 4.5 million people currently to 10 million people by 2030.”
He added that the city was planned by the four largest, specialised international companies, namely SWA, SASAKI, BCG, and Perkins Eastman. This is with the aim of placing Noor City at the forefront of fourth generation cities, in order to achieve sustainable development and standards.
He further pointed out that the new city will include a set of integrated services and modern applications for the first time in Egypt, such as 5G technologies.
“We will also adopt the application of the idea of smart cities, using the latest technological technologies, and an advanced fibre optics infrastructure, as well as providing the Internet,” Moustafa said.
Alongside this, there will also be high-speed Wi-Fi in all public, commercial, and service areas. In addition to this, security services will be available through the latest security systems, CCTV cameras, and control rooms in all areas.