The Egyptian government is seeking to build a New Airport City around Cairo airporton an area covering up to 10 million square meters(sqm) and at a cost of about EGP 100 billion (USD 14.49 billion), the Egyptian civil aviation minister Abdel Aziz Fadel told Zawya.
"The [airport city] is considered a giant national project [that will take] about seven years [to be completed] in all its phases. [It will] provide more than 100,000 direct jobs," the minister said.
"The new project is a complete city around the airport [and will] include a new trade free zone, cargo village, factories belonging to the civil aviation for packaging and food [terminals]. In addition, [it will feature an] entertainment area, administrative offices, hotels and hospital."
The project is still on the planning stage, but authorities expect to start the first phase in January 2014.The project will make use of land around the Cairo International Airport, which has an estimated area of 55 square kilometers and invest around 10 million sqmof surrounding land.
The New Airport City will include a cargo zone with a logistics division spread over an area of 1.7 million sqm, training centers for aviation business zone and industrial city, a solar farm to generate the electricity needed for the region as well as hotels and restaurants.
Aecom is the master plan consultant and the conceptual design consultant for the project.
© Zawya 2013
