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Image used for illustrative purpose. An aerial view of new housing complexes in a suburb of Cairo is pictured through the window of a plane, Egypt December 16, 2017.
ROCC (REDCON for Offices and Commercial Centres), a fully owned subsidiary of REDCON Construction, has invested 500 million Egyptian pounds ($26 million) to date in transforming its Golden Gate project in New Cairo into a smart and green project, the company chairman said.
ROCC Chairman Tarek El-Gammal said the 20 billion Egyptian pound mixed-use community is designed to be a sustainable and environmentally friendly, and incorporates open spaces with pedestrian streets for walking, shopping, and leisure.
Spanning an area of 160,000 square metres, the project includes shops, offices and entertainment units, El-Gammal said, adding that the first phase’s delivery is set to begin in the second quarter of 2024.
He said a key factor behind the decision to go for a smart and green project was that smart and green cities save about 30-40 percent on electricity and water consumption compared to traditional cities.
“ROCC is proud to follow the plans of the Egyptian government and the global direction towards creating smart communities with artificial intelligence, sustainability and efficiency,” said El-Gammal.
Egypt is developing several smart cities or fourth-generation cities across the country representing a total land area of up to 530,000 acres.
Managing Director Hesham Moussa pointed out that smart technologies have been applied not only in Golden Gate’s buildings, but also inside in other areas of the project including its two-level underground parking facility that can hold a total of 8,000 cars.
He continued: “To provide smart experience for visitors, we have an LPR system, which is a garage management system with digital visual screens inside the parking lots. We have also installed smart cameras for face recognition and tracking the customers moves to ensure their safety. A Wi-Fi system and a phone application called Golden Gate will also be provided to facilitate the experience and offer all services to the visitors through it.”
El-Gammal said shuttle buses have been arranged to transport visitors to and from the two nearest Monorail stations to reduce CO2 emissions associated with the project. He said the community will also include charging points for electric cars.
“Smart cities create safer communities, improve transportation, enhance digital transformation and new economic development opportunities, provide efficient public facilities, create better infrastructure, and increase workforce participation,” he concluded.
(1 US Dollar = 19.21 Egyptian Pounds)
(Reporting by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon)
