Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said New Cairo is now home to three million people, while 6th of October City has a population of two million.
Speaking during a session on urban development on the second day of Egypt Forum 2026, Madbouly said the expansion of new cities had helped curb the growing encroachment on agricultural land and the spread of informal settlements.
He said some people had questioned the need to build more new cities, given that 22 existing ones were still largely unoccupied.
However, he explained that Egypt’s plan envisages the construction of 39 new cities by 2050, with work on 27 cities being already under way or completed.
Madbouly also said New Alamein City has attracted one million tourists this year.
The prime minister noted that the government has upgraded more than 350 unsafe areas that were previously home to around 350,000 Egyptian families.
He also highlighted efforts to develop historic and Islamic Cairo, as well as the presidential Decent Life initiative, describing it as one of Egypt’s major national projects.
The initiative has been divided into three phases. The government has completed the first one at a cost of LE450 billion and has begun implementing the second, Madbouly said.
