# THE CAPITAL CAIRO | Iconic Tower | 394m | 1292ft | 77 fl | T/O



## mohammed ghani

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Construction Begins on Iconic Tower

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The foundations for what could become Africa’s tallest building, a 385-meter-tall tower in Egypt’s new administrative capital, will be poured within days, according to the country’s prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly.

Iconic Tower is one of several Dubai-style megaprojects being built in Egypt’s new administrative capital 45 kilometers east of Cairo. It is hoped that when completed it will stand as the tallest building in Africa, though several other taller buildings have been proposed elsewhere on the continent.

Since 1973, the tallest building in Africa has been Johannesburg’s Carlton Centre, at 201 meters in height.

The plan for the new Cairo development – which is being built by a number of Egyptian construction companies in collaboration with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) – shows the site could eventually have 20 skyscrapers.

During a visit to the construction site, Mr Madbouly said the concrete foundations for the tower would be poured continuously over 80 hours. Further building works will begin in March.

Construction of the business district, which began last year, is expected to be completed within three-and-a-half years, CSCEC’s chief executive officer told Xinhua News Agency.

The new administrative capital is one of several mega-projects launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi since he became president in 2014 in an effort to stimulate the economy of the most-populous Arab nation.

The three-phase project aims to transform a 700-square-kilometer area of desert into a modern hub for government buildings, foreign embassies and major companies, easing pressure on traffic-choked Cairo, which is home to 23 million people.

Earlier this month the Egyptian President opened the Middle East’s biggest cathedral and a mega mosque in the new city.

Whether or not the Iconic Tower will eventually become the tallest building in Africa is unclear, as the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Nile Tower also reportedly in the running, as are megaprojects in Kenya and Morocco.

The 70-story Nile Tower building was designed in 2007, with a unique design that sees it twist from a triangular base into a rectangular skyscraper.

http://www.ctbuh.org/news/8714/
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## mohammed ghani

^^







Azmat said:


> Chinese construction projects in Egypt's new capital city model for BRI-based cooperation - LINK




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## mohammed ghani

^^^^







Azmat said:


> Africa's tallest tower rising.
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## mohammed ghani

^^^^



Azmat said:


> It's starting to shape up. :cheers:
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> SOURCE


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## Tom_Green

Took really long but i hope to see more from Africa. The economic development is not that bad. Time to show some skyscrapers


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## potipoti




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## ArchGuy1

Will the Iconic Tower have a public observation deck to look out over the skyline and surrounding area like the Cairo Tower, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, or Burj Khalifa.


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## Eric Offereins

great landmark when finished.


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## future_architect96

Update July 2019


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## Kadzman

^^So they removed the crown?


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## future_architect96

Kadzman said:


> ^^So they removed the crown?


Not sure what you mean by that... Are you meaning that the design for the top of the tower has changed? if so then yes the design was changed a few times before construction. This was the original CBD design including the iconic tower before the changes.










vs the final design that is much better imo


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## ssoott

The whole CBD in both designs look stunning. But there's at least three tower designs here. Which one is being build?


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## future_architect96

^^^^ the final design is the one i posted for the July 2019 update. here is a video of the complete CBD released by the ministry of housing with the final design







The entire CBD including the Iconic tower is scheduled for completion in June 2021.


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## Blue Flame

It looks like they simplified the design a bit, which is a little disappointing, but the new design (from what I could see) looks more like an obelisk, which I suppose is appropriate.


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## Munwon

X Post


minymina said:


> Update 01/08/2019
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## A Chicagoan

mohammed ghani said:


> The plan for the new Cairo development – which is being built by a number of Egyptian construction companies in collaboration with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) – shows the site could eventually have 20 skyscrapers.
> ​


Of course China is involved!


future_architect96 said:


> Not sure what you mean by that... Are you meaning that the design for the top of the tower has changed? if so then yes the design was changed a few times before construction. This was the original CBD design including the iconic tower before the changes.
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> vs the final design that is much better imo


I like the original design better.


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## future_architect96

Update October 2019​


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## Sainton

This is an amazing project. Good on Cairo


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## KillerZavatar

wow. rising fast. didn't even know it started and already well above ground. Amazing as well that they want to finish mid 2021!


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## future_architect96

Drone footage of the Iconic Tower in the New capitals CBD :cheers:


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1189783298890964992


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## Azmat

Video of the entire construction site (of the CBD not just the tower):


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## future_architect96

UPDATE DECEMBER 2019


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## A Chicagoan

^^ The construction site looks really Chinese . . . I guess that’s what happens when you invite China to do the constructing for you.


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## WibblyWobbly

Of course, it's in the middle of absolute nowhere


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## oscillation

A small part of this mega development: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1805925&highlight=cairo


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



future_architect96 said:


> Work on the CBD ongoing day and night :banana:


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



minymina said:


> Update - 05/01/2020


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## KillerZavatar

rising fast! First pictures of the core above ground were from 3 months ago and now it is already closing in on 20 floors. With 15 floors in 3 months, it will be be topped out by January next year!


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## future_architect96

UPDATE 2020​


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



minymina said:


> Update - 14/02/2020


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## future_architect96

UPDATE FEB 2020​


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## A Chicagoan

^^ This must have been what the construction of the Great Pyramids looked like. :master:


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## KillerZavatar

A Chicagoan said:


> ^^ This must have been what the construction of the Great Pyramids looked like. :master:


a lot less tech, a lot more slaves


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## Millennium Falcon

Lol, those hanging cranes on the elevator core is a giveaway - somehow only China contractors are able to do such a thing to their massive construction cranes... :lol: :nuts:

And how far is this project site from Cairo city? Seems pretty distant, as there seems to be nothing nearby except for the cluster of short apartment buildings...


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## future_architect96

Millennium Falcon said:


> Lol, those hanging cranes on the elevator core is a giveaway - somehow only China contractors are able to do such a thing to their massive construction cranes... :lol: :nuts:
> 
> And how far is this project site from Cairo city? Seems pretty distant, as there seems to be nothing nearby except for the cluster of short apartment buildings...


It is about 45 kilometers east of Cairo. There is nothing near it as of now but the new administrative is being built around the new CBD. There is more information about the new capital city on the Egyptian forum if you are interested.


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## AlexeiSmirnoff

Wow is far away from Cairo...


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



minymina said:


> Update - 26/02/2020
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## Riley1066

KillerZavatar said:


> a lot less tech, a lot more slaves


No slaves built the Pyramids.


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## citysquared

Research has proven that is true.


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## KillerZavatar

Riley1066 said:


> No slaves built the Pyramids.


I stand corrected.


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



minymina said:


> Update - 02/03/2020
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## kanye

X-post


Azmat said:


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## A Chicagoan

Originally posted by @minymina:


minymina said:


> *Update 09/05/2020*
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## minymina

If you guys like this, check out Oblisco Capitale. 
It's only in the proposal stage and will likely get downsized if built. 
Non the less, it's a beautiful building that's worth checking out.

Form link



minymina said:


> Oblisco Capitale Tower
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> *Project Summary*
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> Built to be one of many landmarks of the New Egyptian Captial City, Oblisco Capitale Tower will be bigger than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, making it the world's tallest artificial structure. The project is among the vast developmental and multidimensional projects currently run by the government.
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> The Project isn't just a tower, it’s much more than that, “it’s a complete community with the business hub, medical city, educational complexes, etc. It will be an integrated project”, says Lina Hesham, Communication Manager at Idia Design.
> 
> *Project Overview*
> 
> Status: Design
> Height: 1000 meters
> Area: (?)
> Floors: (?)
> Location: New Egyptian Captial
> Purpose: Commercial, Residential, Shopping, Recreational
> Architectural firm: Idia Design
> Architectural Style: Pharaonic & Art Deco
> Construction Company: (? - Currently confidential)
> Partners: Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation
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> *Finances*
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> Estimated Cost: (?)
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> Source of Finance: -
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> Egyptian Government (?)
> International and Domestic Investors (?)
> *Sources*
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> 1 - 2
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> *Fun facts*
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> Art deco was inspired by Pharaonic design





minymina said:


> Concept Images





minymina said:


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## Io-Diegetic

Africa has always seemed to lag behind in tall building construction. The Leonardo is only 234 meters and it took decades for anything to be taller than the Carlton centre. But this is way taller 385 meters. Not will this be Africa’s first supertall if it finishes quickly. But it would be taller than the Empire State Building 😎.


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



minymina said:


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minymina said:


> Update 16/05/2020
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## A Chicagoan

Originally posted by minymina


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## Zaz965

the concrete core is very fast   

by the way, I pray every day to Egypt to have more supertalls


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## erkantang

Io-Diegetic said:


> Africa has always seemed to lag behind in tall building construction. The Leonardo is only 234 meters and it took decades for anything to be taller than the Carlton centre. But this is way taller 385 meters. Not will this be Africa’s first supertall if it finishes quickly. But it would be taller than the Empire State Building .


For sub saharan Africa though, another 200 or 300 meter building still seems unrealistic in the next 5-10 years.


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## future_architect96

Update June 2020


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## trustevil

It's like a whole city uc


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## kunming tiger

anybody can build a building few would attempt an entire city as is becoming the norm in Asia。


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## EightFive

planned cities do not have a good history.


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## A Chicagoan

EightFive said:


> planned cities do not have a good history.


Ever heard of Washington DC?


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## EightFive

Yes. It was a major mess for a long time, and has just recently gentrified. now its too expensive.


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## KillerZavatar

minymina said:


> If you guys like this, check out Oblisco Capitale.
> It's only in the proposal stage and will likely get downsized if built.
> Non the less, it's a beautiful building that's worth checking out.


I thought Iconic Tower was the downsized version we got. Is that on another plot?


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## future_architect96

KillerZavatar said:


> I thought Iconic Tower was the downsized version we got. Is that on another plot?


Yes, they are two separate projects. The Oblisco Capitale is a proposed concept design for another project in the new capital that is outside of this original CBD project. It most likely won't be built any time soon if at all.


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## Rckr88

From the Egypt Forum:



bishoui said:


> View attachment 363732
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## ReginaMills




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## trustevil

Wow. No paved roads it's like a brand new city popping up out the desert. Amazing


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## Munwon

Looks to be an atrium on the top portion of the building


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## A Chicagoan

Zaz965 said:


> Renders & Construction Updates
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Great context for the location


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## Zaz965

A Chicagoan said:


> Great context for the location


I am upset to see the cbs is very small compared to the rest of the city 😭


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## Mortdecai

Zaz965 said:


> I am upset to see the cbs is very small compared to the rest of the city 😭


Good news is CBD is actually a lot larger than what you can see here which is

*#Central Business District | MU10 | Phase I | 18 Towers | GFA 1.7mn sqm | 155 Acres | $3bn | U/C*
The other sections are 

*#Central Business District | MU10 | Phase II | 20 Towers | GFA 1.8mn sqm | 135 Acres | Approved*
*#Central Business District | MU8 | High and Medium-rise Towers | 275 Acres | Approved*
*#Central Business District | MU7 | High and Medium-rise Towers | 260 Acres | U/C*








CBD 5, 6 and 9 have been scrapped in favour of commercial amenities serving the Central Park 








Another section which will host a number of skyscrapers, +40 reaching up to 200m tall, is the Downtown district, although not officially part of CBD since its detached from the rest by few kilometers 

*#Downtown District | MU19 | Mixed Use | 1440 acres | U/C*


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## Zaz965

@Mortdecai , thanks for posting these pics


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## Mortdecai




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## Lincolnlover2005

A B O U T D A M N T I M E


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## GeorGe99

Latest Construction update from CSCEC



Mortdecai said:


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## GeorGe99

videos from the site


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## Mortdecai

cr @Abanoub_Samir
















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## Mortdecai

drone footage from TEN channel




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=651351379161974






__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=839432406940954


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## Kadzman

Mortdecai said:


> cr @Abanoub_Samir
> View attachment 2267561
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Any ideas on the heights of the surrounding secondary towers?


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## Lincolnlover2005

Kadzman said:


> Any ideas on the heights of the surrounding secondary towers?


Ta Da!


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## Mortdecai

Kadzman said:


> Any ideas on the heights of the surrounding secondary towers?





Lincolnlover2005 said:


> Ta Da!
> View attachment 2269479


the heights here in the photo were announced at the launch of project in 2018, since then few changes been made but not all were made public.
for example the 180m was topped out at 196m and the two 150m were topped out at 174m.

Here's threads of specific towers 








THE CAPITAL CAIRO | ACUD Residential | 196m | 176m x 2 |...


Residential and hotel Owner Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Client China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Engineer Dar AL-Handasah Shair and Partners SIAC Constructions...




www.skyscrapercity.com












THE CAPITAL CAIRO | C01 Tower | 190m | 35 fl | T/O


Owner Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Client China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Engineer Dar AL-Handasah Shair and Partners




www.skyscrapercity.com












THE CAPITAL CAIRO | C04 Tower | 170m | 34 fl | T/O


Owner Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Client China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Engineer Dar AL-Handasah Shair and Partners




www.skyscrapercity.com












THE CAPITAL CAIRO | C07 & C08 Twin Towers | 155m x 2...


Residential and hotel Owner Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Client China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Engineer Dar AL-Handasah Shair and Partners




www.skyscrapercity.com












THE CAPITAL CAIRO | C11 & C12 Twin Towers | 160m x 2...


hotel and hospitality Owner Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Client China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Engineer Dar AL-Handasah Shair and Partners




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## GeorGe99

Central Park and CBD


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## Mortdecai

bird's eye view








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## GeorGe99

more cladding's up, but at an agonizingly slow pace !!! 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢



Trent123 said:


> View attachment 2288577


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## Zaz965

curiosity: a huge urban village in Cairo
















People On This Group Are Sharing Examples Of ‘Urban Hell’ That Look Like A Dystopian Movie But Are Sadly Real (40 Pics)


Not every building is as beautiful as the Palace of Versailles. Or blends into its surroundings as well as the Macallan Distillery.




www.boredpanda.com


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## Rubicantes

Mortdecai said:


> bird's eye view
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> View attachment 2275283
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Such a bad urban planning. So sad in our 21st century. Seems like the worst of the 1960-2000 urbanism.


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## ekowturks

Zaz965 said:


> curiosity: a huge urban village in Cairo
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Reminds me of Kowloon Walled City.


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## NanoRay

Zaz965 said:


> so gorgeous building, it should be thicker


I agree!


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## Azmat

Africa's tallest building is almost fully clad now, it turned out far more majestic than I imagined it would be.

SOURCE






























​*If you look at the plot of land to the left in the picture below you can see thet foundation being built for the 200 meter tall Infinity Tower.*








​*And that patch of greenery is the Green River obviously, and on the other side of the road to that is the second phase of the CBD which will be built eventually (in the currently empty plot shown below). The render below shows the two areas intersected by the Green River. The second phase of the CBD will see the construction of 20 towers, some on the other side of the Green River as I explained and some directly south of the current location as an expansion, where those blue temporary construction shelters currently are.*


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## Zaz965

^^^^^^^^


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## Zaz965

it is already surrounded by residential buildings  
















DISCUSS: Best African Skyline


Dar Es Salaam ssc africa




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## Zaz965

the new residential borough to the right
















DISCUSS: Best African Skyline


Durban Durban North Beach from Moses Mabhida Stadium by Gerry Lynch/林奇格里, trên Flickr




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## reminiscent83

Zaz965 said:


> it is already surrounded by residential buildings
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Prachtige foto !!


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## KAAAZ

The tower looks really nice, but the urban planning part around is pretty bad. Forcing people to travel many kilometres by car when climate change is getting very real is not what I would call a bet on the future.


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## Rubicantes

Yeah... Already a city of the past. So sad to see that some urban planners still live in the 1960-70. I wish some build an actual planned city of the future, something with stong connectivity of urban transport. Where you don't have to take a car for every little steps you have to do. That new Capital Cairo is just some urban nightmare from past decades. All the bad ideas put together.


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## Azmat

It's a city designed to accommodate five million people eventually and people are jumping to very drastic conclusions because they see two arterial roads, which despite intersecting the city in the middle are designed specifically not to impede pedestrian traffic with tunnels and bridges being built to allow access from one end to the other through the Green River which also runs through the middle of the city throughout its entire length. Those two arterial roads are what connect the city to Cairo's Regional Ring Road and the Cairo-Suez Highway. We've had this discussion multiple times and frankly I'm not sure what makes people think it's so car-oriented. You can even see the tracks for the city's monorail in the pictures above, and the remainder of the city will be served by a BRT network, an LRT line that connects it with eastern Cairo and all of its eastern satellite cities as well as two high-speed rail lines which will connect the city to the North Coast/Alexandria, Red Sea and Upper Egypt. Aside from that, this is what these districts look like on a street level. Not exactly designed for high-density car traffic in other words.























































The R5 district, New Garden City, in particular is modeled after Downtown Cairo with its Haussmanian boulevards and squares.


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## Azmat

For those keen on comparing it to Brasilia (i.e. 1960), this is what a drive around the government district looks like:






Compared to the government district of Brasilia:


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## Azmat

Anyway, back on track:
SOURCE


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## GeorGe99

CBD Jan22


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## trustevil

I think it's fine. Keep the residential area away from the business area. Ppl complain about climate change lol Egypt is a freaking desert. They should plant more trees and grass that'll make it a bit more greener for the tree huggers lol. This building looks fantastic though


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## shlouger

how much floor now please ?


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## Twopsy

Wikipedia say the construction cost just of the tower is $3 billion. That does not seem right. In NYC such a tower would cost $3 billion, but not in Egypt. $3 billion could be for the whole complex.


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## IngMarco

Azmat said:


> For those keen on comparing it to Brasilia (i.e. 1960), this is what a drive around the government district looks like:


This is impressive, it really gives a modern vibe of ancient egyptian architecture.


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## al-hebati

An impressive skyscraper indeed


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## A Chicagoan

*April 27:*








Sunset Over The Highrise Complex by Andrew Shenouda on 500px.com


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## Mortdecai

Video from CSCEC showcasing CBD progress to date.


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## Lincolnlover2005

Mortdecai said:


> Video from CSCEC showcasing CBD progress to date.


4,500 years later and Egypt's still kicking ass when it feels like it


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## Mortdecai

Credit: Log into Facebook​


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## thestealthyartist

They should've made it 400+, a 6-meter increase shouldn't be too difficult.


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## kenamour

thestealthyartist said:


> They should've made it 400+, a 6-meter increase shouldn't be too difficult.


yes，300+ feel different to 400+


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## kenamour

Mortdecai said:


> View attachment 3376441
> 
> Credit: Log into Facebook​


after a long long time，we had update！


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## Mortdecai

Its been quite a long time for a map update too. This one taken on 17/06/2022.
seen here is all of NAC phase one, except for R7, R8 and the diplomatic district.


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## WiseSupernova

*Great video on this utterly horrendous and machiavellian project*


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## Zaz965

kenamour said:


> yes，300+ feel different to 400+


I think this building in cairo suffers some kind of curse about round numbers 😁😁


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## kenamour

June 27 





















Over 70 percent of Egyptian new capital's 1st phase completed: cabinet


Over 70 percent of Egyptian new capital's 1st phase completed: cabinet-



english.news.cn


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## d.henney

What a mistake not choosing the t(kh)n design:


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MoXOfq7wFbc/maxresdefault.jpg



Could have been one of the worlds most iconic towers bringing one of the oldest architecture styles unique to this country into the modern world. Now they have a generic design nobody cares about …


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## A Chicagoan

d.henney said:


> What a mistake not choosing the t(kh)n design:
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> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MoXOfq7wFbc/maxresdefault.jpg
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> Could have been one of the worlds most iconic towers bringing one of the oldest architecture styles unique to this country into the modern world. Now they have a generic design nobody cares about …


That's the Oblisco Capitale Tower, a separate project:








THE CAPITAL CAIRO | Oblisco Capitale | 1000m | 3281ft |...


Project Summary Built to be one of many landmarks of the New Egyptian Captial City, Oblisco Capitale Tower will be bigger than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, making it the world's tallest artificial structure. The project is among the vast developmental and multidimensional projects currently run by the...




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## Lincolnlover2005

WiseSupernova said:


> *Great video on this utterly horrendous and machiavellian project*


I wouldn't call this project utterly horrendous and machiavellian, I'd just call it Over-Compensation


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## thestealthyartist

Lincolnlover2005 said:


> I wouldn't call this project utterly horrendous and machiavellian, I'd just call it Over-Compensation


I read some of the comments and apparently it's more about the Egyptian government building themselves their own secluded place to rule from, and also to over-compensate for the other, more questionable things they do, as you said. Kinda like the Palace of Versailles back in the day.


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## Twopsy

The video has some good points. The new city seems to be a city fro the rich and the ruling class. Reminds me of Dubai where the poor people who build the city are locked in container villages outside of the city when they are not working.


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## Riley1066

One of the silliest parts of that video is where he says "American Suburbs are an urbanism nightmare."

No kidding, that's why its SUBURBANISM NOT URBANISM. Different things entirely there Adam. 

Not everything has to be "urban".

If you don't like the suburbs, don't move to the suburbs. Don't have this notion of banning them.


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## SkylineHorizons

WiseSupernova said:


> *Great video on this utterly horrendous and machiavellian project*


👏👏👏
Nice to see this scumbag dictator being called out for what amounts to a self-serving and asinine waste of resources.


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## KillerZavatar

Riley1066 said:


> One of the silliest parts of that video is where he says "American Suburbs are an urbanism nightmare."
> 
> No kidding, that's why its SUBURBANISM NOT URBANISM. Different things entirely there Adam.
> 
> Not everything has to be "urban".
> 
> If you don't like the suburbs, don't move to the suburbs. Don't have this notion of banning them.


Nah, Those American suburbs suck, the ones that are a square layout and the internal structure is like a maze of cul-de-sac and windy roads at least, even compared to other suburbs with the same desired density. Street layouts are extremely inefficient and car dependent, and retail and the like is all segregated off. Here is an example:


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## Twopsy

I am not sure if people really "choose" to live in a suburb like that. They just have to consider the options. Either one of those boring houses that all look the same far from the city center or even the next supermarket or a home close to the city center for three times or even ten times the price for a house on an even smaller plot. 

So those suburbs are not really the choice of the people living there. There simply is no other cheap option. It is urban planning done very wrong. It can be much better. You could combine 200 or so houses to a small community with some central building with some infrastructure like some shops, a doctor an stuff like that. And those little communities should not be too far from the next bigger center which contains things like a supermarket, a library, a cinema, a pool and stuff like that. That larger center should be within WALKABLE distance from every house. What "walkable" is depends on how long you are willing to walk. Two kilometres would be okay for me.


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## Azmat

I'm just going to copy-paste my answer from the discussion in the Egyptian forum. People always try to analyze things from the context of their own surroundings, failing to realize that other countries have their own share of unique challenges that they face. There is no comparison to be made with Dubai, except maybe in urban planning, where some of the criticism is actually valid. The UAE is a sparsely populated country of vast empty desert with originally nomadic people and almost no arable land or agriculture. There is also no comparison to be made with American suburbanism, a country with a vast expanse of arable land ready to be settled. As far as criticism of skyscrapers goes, are cities supposed to be built entirely out of a functional and utilitarian point of view? Would New York have been New York without its towers? Is construction cost the sole factor to take into account? What about attracting investments, businesses and tourists? He's also wrong, Egypt is not building the world's tallest tower. Oblisco Capitale is just a concept and has not been approved for construction. The Iconic Tower, the one being built, is Africa's tallest tower at 395 meters.

So while he does bring up some interesting points he fails to take the most important thing into account, and that's the reason why Egypt is building it in the first place. Two words, population density. And any criticism that fails to take that into account in their analysis is flawed. Egypt's biggest challenge in the 21st century is demographics, and 110 million people living on an area the size of Belgium has its fair share of inherent problems but add to that encroachment on the very limited agricultural land which feeds those 110 million people from the constant expansion of existing urban settlements and you have a looming disaster. How many more millions can Cairo accommodate? Cairo was designed to handle five million people, which is now the population of tertiary cities along the Nile Valley. It's either expanding into the desert, or impose crippling restrictions on construction in existing cities which will cause the cost of housing to rival (and probably surpass) that of Tokyo and London. So much for caring about the poor eh...

Anyone who is convinced that Cairo is being left to rot is welcome to head on over to the Egyptian forum to have their minds changed.


Plans and ongoing construction of 6 metro lines [1] [2] [3]
Construction of 2 monorail lines
Completion of an LRT line connecting Cairo with all of its eastern satellite cities and the new capital
Completion of two massive transportation hubs [1] [2]
Construction of two high-speed railway lines connecting the entire country with Cairo
Expansion of the regional ring road and ring road
Construction of BRT lanes on the ring road to replace informal means of transport
Various slum development projects like the Masperio Triangle, Sor Magra El Oyoun, Telal El Fustat, El Warraq etc.

And all of these developments are just in Cairo, let alone the rest of the country and the dozens of other 4th generation new urban communities being built alongside the new capital for the same reason (New Alamein, El Galala/New Mansoura/New Aswan/etc)


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## Azmat

This picture will best visualize the changes being made in Cairo these past few years.


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## Zaz965

@Azmat, please, post also in this thread  








City of Cairo - suburbs of Cairo - New Administrative...


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4551/38941273581_42d69a45a2_b.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4588/38225197974_0f09f790c2_h.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4557/24076149097_1a2ddb3c43_o.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4643/38904993292_c8d6e93643_b.jpg




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## Zaz965

by the way, I dream to see the old Cairo with new buildings, take a look at this photo
Cairo from Above by Mohamed Essa, on Flickr


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## Twopsy

The problem of course is that modernizing an existing city usually means that those old districts with small houses and without roads that could fit cars will have to go. In China they do that quite aggressively. Shanghai for example still has a lot of those old "Hutongs" that feel like you are in a small city and not one of 26 million. Eah year a few of those areas are completely razed and replazed with large modern buildings. This is an example of that. 2011 on the left and 2021 on the right:








(Source: Google Earth)
It usually starts with a few larger buildings that "sneak" into the existing area. You can see that on the 2011 photo. Sooner or later all small buildings have to go and the people who lived in the very city center of Shanghai are moved to modern, but ugly and monotone building blocks 20 kilometres or so from the city center, where even the next metro station is quite far away. Only a very few old districts are preserved for tourists. So the Shanghai way basically is tearing the old city down and replacing it with a new one. Perhaps people in Cairo can be glad that this does not happen to their city in the same scale. China desperately wants its cities to look either like American or like European ones. The goverment thinks that those tiny old buildings that often do not even have their own toilets are somehow embarrassing, but that is not really the case. 

So the ideal way would be modernizing Cairo more gradually by forcing nobody to leave their district, but instead giving incentives to move or modernize. Unfortunately it seems that in some areas Cairo did it exactly like Shanghai. You can see that by scrolling the rime slider at Google Earth.


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## Kynareth

Twopsy said:


> The goverment thinks that those tiny old buildings that often do not even have their own toilets are somehow embarrassing, but that is not really the case.


I think that *is* the case and they are embarrassing. The only problem I see is when these new huge buildings are only benefiting the better financially situated people and not the poor that are evicted.


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## Zaz965

Kynareth said:


> I think that *is* the case and they are embarrassing. The only problem I see is when these new huge buildings are only benefiting the better financially situated people and not the poor that are evicted.


for this reason, I think the poor people should be transfered for a huge public housing combinated by a huge public-private employement program


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## Twopsy

Kynareth said:


> I think that *is* the case and they are embarrassing. The only problem I see is when these new huge buildings are only benefiting the better financially situated people and not the poor that are evicted.


Of course we are used to having our own toilets, but that is quite a luxury that many people in the world do not enjoy. If you are used to having a toilet house in every street, you might not miss that though. Toilets are only used for a few minutes anyway and so it makes sense not to waste resources on them. I grew up without internet for example and that was okay. I did not miss anything back then, although today I can't imagine living without a toilet. 

If I had to choose between living in a small building without toilet in the middle of Shanghai or in a modern apartment in the middle of nowhere, that would be a tough choice. I think the best compromise would be building the replacement apartments in the same area as the demolished houses. So if you demolish a hundred of those small houses, you could build a single tower for all those people and still have 95% or so left of the plot for whatever you want to build there. That would be a win for both. The developer had a nice plot in the city center and the people who lived there had new apartments that are worth a lot because of their location.


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## Zaz965

Twopsy said:


> Of course we are used to having our own toilets, but that is quite a luxury that many people in the world do not enjoy. If you are used to having a toilet house in every street, you might not miss that though.


did you mean not all old shanghainese houses had toilet? was the same toilet shared with 2 or more houses in the old times?  🥶


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## Twopsy

Yes, the toilet was shared, but with probably ten or more houses and not only two.


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## Zaz965

Twopsy said:


> Yes, the toilet was shared, but with probably ten or more houses and not only two.


omg  🥶  🥶


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## Twopsy

It is not as bad as you might think. Even today we usually only have our own toilets at home. At work, at school, in a cinema, restaurant, shopping mall or train station, we have to share the toilet with other people. So if the shared toilet is clean, it should not be major problem. I think people are happy to have a home in the Cairo or Shanghai city center. The location makes up for some inconveninces.


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## LNDN

The fact is, these slums in Cairo don’t even have shared toilets. People literally live in rubble. I am not sure you’d find that comfortable, particularly if your kids have to battle with unsafe structures, having to relieve themselves amid rubbish and sleep on the floor. No location would justify such inhumane conditions in the 21st century


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## Mortdecai

CBD
Credit: M.Y.


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## racata




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## luci203

Twopsy said:


> It is not as bad as you might think. Even today we usually only have our own toilets at home. At work, at school, in a cinema, restaurant, shopping mall or train station, we have to share the toilet with other people. So if the shared toilet is clean, it should not be major problem. I think people are happy to have a home in the Cairo or Shanghai city center. The location makes up for some inconveninces.


Did you actually lived in ''slums'' like those In Shanghai ? - I did, I one room with my entire family, with shared toilet with families in the building, of course no bath or shower, and had to wash in a plastic basin. And yes, the location was the city center. Then my family managed to move to a modern, but ugly and monotone building... with 3 rooms, kitchen, living, bathroom, a small park in front of the building, and basically everything around 500m from my block, shops, pharmacy, restaurants, even my school. (I was 8) - I did not miss my centrally located ''slum'' at all... 



LNDN said:


> The fact is, these slums in Cairo don’t even have shared toilets. People literally live in rubble. I am not sure you’d find that comfortable, particularly if your kids have to battle with unsafe structures, having to relieve themselves amid rubbish and sleep on the floor. No location would justify such inhumane conditions in the 21st century


Some people are high on Member Berries.


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## Zaz965

luci203 said:


> Did you actually lived in ''slums'' like those In Shanghai ? - I did, I one room with my entire family, with shared toilet with families in the building, of course no bath or shower, and had to wash in a plastic basin. And yes, the location was the city center.


pardon me, luci, are there photos about these humble houses in Romania?


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## Lincolnlover2005

非洲沙漠崛起摩天高楼_新华社_照片_首都


新华社照片，开罗，2022年8月19日 这是2022年7月19日拍摄的埃及新行政首都中央商务区项目（无人机照片）。 埃及新行政首都中央商务区项目总占地面积约50.5万平方米，包含20个高层建筑单…




www.sohu.com


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## Zaz965

@Azmat, what is 6th october city in Cairo?  
















African Public Transport Projects | Urban Rail | Metro...


Progress on the Algiers Subway




www.skyscrapercity.com


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## Azmat

Zaz965 said:


> @Azmat, what is 6th october city in Cairo?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> African Public Transport Projects | Urban Rail | Metro...
> 
> 
> Progress on the Algiers Subway
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.skyscrapercity.com


It’s a satellite city of Giza built in the 90s, mostly suburban villas and malls. It is to Giza what New Cairo is to Cairo.


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## luci203

Azmat said:


> It is to Giza what New Cairo is to Cairo.


Hope not the same fate... it was planned to have 6 million, and it hardly have 500000 today.


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## Twopsy

If a city is built from scratch, it goes wrong in most cases, because the evolution of the city is skipped. Normal cities evolve slowly and therefore get better over time. Of course it is nice to be able to plan a metro line before anything is built, but those modern cities often end as a nightmare. Even a city like Songdo is not a place where I would want to live. Crime may be low and everything is modern and efficient, but people are tracked everywhere. It reminds me of the city in "Demolition Man". Real life happens in a grown city.


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## Azmat

luci203 said:


> Hope not the same fate... it was planned to have 6 million, and it hardly have 500000 today.


Not sure where you got 6 million from but aside from social housing the only initiative to settle people in 6th of October has been subsidized land for people to build their own homes and apartment complexes, as well as cheap land for investors to build luxury residential projects.


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## minymina

Update


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## racata

*Mohamed Yahya*


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## sepul

When the development is ready the place will be full in no time. Egypt is crowded!


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## Eric Offereins

Iconic tower.


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## Earl_99.99

_CBD as seen from Madinaty ~12km away_






Credit Hossam Abbas Photography


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## minymina

Update


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## minymina

Awesome photos of the tower


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## Akai

Wow, awesome skyline
🤩


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## Bligh

The B1M just dropped this video on this whole project! Well worth a watch:


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## Earl_99.99

From a more distant point in Madinaty


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## RatKzn

minymina said:


> Awesome photos of the tower


I don’t want to sound dumb but how did they get this photo, surely it can’t be real.

To get a details of the Milky Way visible in a construction site near Cairo just seems impossible


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## Mortdecai

RatKzn said:


> I don’t want to sound dumb but how did they get this photo, surely it can’t be real.
> 
> To get a details of the Milky Way visible in a construction site near Cairo just seems impossible


both of these are terribly photoshopped. the one with the moon is taken in daylight, you can see the towers shadows. awful 😅


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## toxtethogrady

Earl_99.99 said:


> _CBD as seen from Madinaty ~12km away_
> View attachment 4043677​Credit Hossam Abbas Photography


I continue to be amazed that all this suburban sprawl is supported by a water supply. I had heard that they rely on water pumped to the surface from underground aquifers, but that only lasts so long and results in subsidence. With more people getting moved out into the hinterlands, where is the water coming from?


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## Kot Behemot

toxtethogrady said:


> I continue to be amazed that all this suburban sprawl is supported by a water supply. I had heard that they rely on water pumped to the surface from underground aquifers, but that only lasts so long and results in subsidence. With more people getting moved out into the hinterlands, where is the water coming from?


Perhaps from those desalination factories they're building.



> There are currently 82 desalination plants operating in Egypt, with a total water capacity of 917,000 cubic meters per day.





> June 8, 2022
> CAIRO — The Egyptian government announced May 26 its decision to expand seawater desalination projects in the upcoming period, especially in coastal and border cities, by building 14 new plants.


Egypt expands water desalination projects as Nile dam talks hit new snag.


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## toxtethogrady

How are the economics for 82 desalination plants? I would have thought if it were economical, the Israelis could take some of the pressure off the Jordan River by building them.


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## minymina

toxtethogrady said:


> How are the economics for 82 desalination plants? I would have thought if it were economical, the Israelis could take some of the pressure off the Jordan River by building them.


Egypt has an insane surplus of Energy. We have become a major energy hub these past few years with plans to hook up our grid with Europe for export. This isn't slowing down either as we're in the process of building our first nuclear power plant as well as dozens of ginormous solar and air farms.
In the long run, it's not sustainable given our massive population. We cannot depend on desalination as our sole source of water. But it does however cover the water needs for plenty of coastal cities such as Sharm el Sheikh, El-Gouna, Alamein etc.
Both desalination and underground aquifers, such as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, substitute a lot of water that cannot be pumped from the Nile. Again, it's not sustainable in the long run but it currently covers our needs.

In terms of Israel, they heavily rely on water recycling, underground springs, and rivers. The population is around 9.3m. Egypt on the other hand has 110m and 91% of our landmass is desert. They don't really need desalination but we on the other hand are desperate for an alternative to the Nile.


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## minymina

Update


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## dark_shadow1

toxtethogrady said:


> How are the economics for 82 desalination plants? I would have thought if it were economical, the Israelis could take some of the pressure off the Jordan River by building them.





minymina said:


> Egypt has an insane surplus of Energy. We have become a major energy hub these past few years with plans to hook up our grid with Europe for export. This isn't slowing down either as we're in the process of building our first nuclear power plant as well as dozens of ginormous solar and air farms.
> In the long run, it's not sustainable given our massive population. We cannot depend on desalination as our sole source of water. But it does however cover the water needs for plenty of coastal cities such as Sharm el Sheikh, El-Gouna, Alamein etc.
> Both desalination and underground aquifers, such as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, substitute a lot of water that cannot be pumped from the Nile. Again, it's not sustainable in the long run but it currently covers our needs.
> 
> In terms of Israel, they heavily rely on water recycling, underground springs, and rivers. The population is around 9.3m. Egypt on the other hand has 110m and 91% of our landmass is desert. They don't really need desalination but we on the other hand are desperate for an alternative to the Nile.


Huh, according to that quote- Egypt's desalination plants have capacity of 917k cubic meters per day, which translates to about 335 million cubic meters per year. Israel meanwhile has 5 major water desalination plants, with capacity of about 600 million cubic meters per year. Water desalination is relatively economical in Israel, at least for domestic usage- as Israelis pay 7.3-13.4 ILS per cubic meter of water for domestic use, while water desalination costs only about 2-2.9 ILS per cubic meter. So basically transporting the water from the desalination plants to the consumers and then transporting sewage to treatments plants and treating it costs more then desalinating the water. Agriculture can't be economical with such high water costs- but farmers pay much less since they use mainly non-potable water (2/3 of usage) and are somewhat subsidized by domestic users.
I assume desalination costs will be only slightly lower in Egypt, and therefore it won't be economical in the near future since most Egyptians won't be able to afford such high water prices- considering Israel's GDP per capita (in nominal terms) is over 13 times higher than Egypt's.


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## toxtethogrady

When it turns out to be scalable, alert the Western US, as that drought shows no signs of abating...


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## Ynhockey

It's pretty scalable for a country with a long ocean coastline. Desalination on California's coastline alone can easily satisfy the needs of the entire West Coast, but transporting the water to inland states would be the most expensive part by far, as dark_shadow1 wrote.

For Egypt is a different story though. In Egypt, the _high_ water tariff is about $0.1, while the low one is about $0.025, as far as I could tell. In the most optimistic scenario, one m3 of desalinated water will cost $0.6, without further infrastructure costs, and realistically at least $1. This is an order of magnitude greater, and I am not sure how many ordinary Egyptians will be able to pay for it. Just building the plants is not an issue though, and indeed Egypt has no choice but to go down that road.


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## Mortdecai

NUCA has finally released a new video update



Azmat said:


> Official December update.


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## minymina

dark_shadow1 said:


> Huh, according to that quote- Egypt's desalination plants have capacity of 917k cubic meters per day, which translates to about 335 million cubic meters per year. Israel meanwhile has 5 major water desalination plants, with capacity of about 600 million cubic meters per year. Water desalination is relatively economical in Israel, at least for domestic usage- as Israelis pay 7.3-13.4 ILS per cubic meter of water for domestic use, while water desalination costs only about 2-2.9 ILS per cubic meter. So basically transporting the water from the desalination plants to the consumers and then transporting sewage to treatments plants and treating it costs more then desalinating the water. Agriculture can't be economical with such high water costs- but farmers pay much less since they use mainly non-potable water (2/3 of usage) and are somewhat subsidized by domestic users.
> I assume desalination costs will be only slightly lower in Egypt, and therefore it won't be economical in the near future since most Egyptians won't be able to afford such high water prices- considering Israel's GDP per capita (in nominal terms) is over 13 times higher than Egypt's.


I didn't mean to suggest that Israel doesn't use desalination plants, only that they have alternative sources, for things like agriculture, and a much smaller population to cater for. This is not the situation in Egypt. Water desalination is used only in coastal settlements like Sharm El Sheikh, where it's a lot harder to supply water from the Nile and population is significantly smaller.


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## trustevil

toxtethogrady said:


> I continue to be amazed that all this suburban sprawl is supported by a water supply. I had heard that they rely on water pumped to the surface from underground aquifers, but that only lasts so long and results in subsidence. With more people getting moved out into the hinterlands, where is the water coming from?


there are underground rivers in the Sahara desert so it's not hard to imagine that could be where they're getting water from. if that falls thru they could make a desalination plant near the red sea idk how far that is away though or get water from the Nile?


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## racata

*CSCEC EGYPT *
In the heart of the desert some 50 km east of Cairo, Egypt, a new modern city is rising above the ground—the New Capital Central Business District (CBD). As the largest project implemented by a Chinese company in Egypt so far, the New Capital CBD project is a landmark project witnessing the friendship between China and Egypt.








Every day, the sweat and wisdom of more than 8,000 CSCECers are manifested in the New Capital CBD project. CSCEC Egypt has completed the Iconic Tower at the speed of one floor every four days, even three days, and set the highest daily installation record. By installing and applying a hyperbolic curtain wall, the 385.8-meter-high Iconic Tower, the tallest building in Africa, has been covered with a fabulous appearance.








Every day in the New Capital CBD project is also one step closer to the goal of expanding a happy living environment and Egypt Vision 2030. Currently, the New Capital CBD project has completed the main construction of all 20 skyscrapers. Furthermore, all builders of CSCEC Egypt will continue to work hard and demonstrate their wisdom to realize common progress and the perfect implementation of the New Capital CBD project at an early date.


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## racata

*Hossam Abbas Photography*


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## minymina

Mortdecai said:


> NUCA has finally released a new video update


Love that they re-released the same exact video with another soundtrack track.


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## racata




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