New Cairo
New Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة الجديدة el-Qāhera el-Gedīda) is a satellite city within the metropolitan area of Cairo, Egypt. Administratively, it is part of the Eastern Area of Cairo, administered by the New Urban Communities Authority. The city was established in 2000 by merging three 'new' towns (The First, Third and Fifth Settlements, translit. Al-Tagammu' al-awwal, al-thalith, al-khames, Arabic:التجمع الأول والثالث والخامس), originally on an area of about 67,000 acres which had grown to 85,000 acres by 2016.
New Cairo
القاهرة الجديدة | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of Madinaty, New Cairo | |
New Cairo Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates: 30.03°N 31.47°E | |
| Country | Egypt |
| Metropolitan area | Greater Cairo |
| Governorate | Cairo |
| Government | |
| • Head of the New Cairo City Authority | Engineer Amin Ghoneim |
| Area | |
| • Total | 343 km2 (132 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 271 m (889 ft) |
| Population (January 2023) | |
| • Total | 1,500,000 |
| • Density | 4,400/km2 (11,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
| Area code | (+20) 2 |
According to the 2017 census, New Cairo's three qisms (Qahira al-Gadida Awwal, Thani, Thalith) had a combined population of 297,387 residents (also see population section below). This is in stark contrast to the New Urban Communities Authority's (NUCA) undated population estimate of 1.5 million inhabitants and a target population of 4 million inhabitants. However, the same source contradicts this claim where it states 70,000 homes as built, leading to an impossibly high average of 21 people per home. The lower population figure translates into a more realistic 4 people per home.
New Cairo is built in the Eastern Desert to the east of the Cairo Ring Road and the modern 1950s extension of Nasr City, on a plateau that ranges in elevation between 250 and 307 metres (820 and 1,007 ft) above sea level.
The city could eventually host a population of 5 million. When compared to 6th of October, also built with the hopes of alleviating the strain on Cairo, more homes are being rented out in New Cairo than in 6th of October.