Egypt’s Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Development has finalised the founding of a company that will serve as a master developer for the New Capital City project in the country.

Called The Administrative Capital City for Urban Development, the firm will manage the proposed administrative capital city project located between Cairo and the Suez Canal region.

In March, MEED reported that several local developers had already been negotiating with representatives of the newly formed government entity.

According to a statement from the housing ministry: “The constituent assembly, [led] by Ahmed Weshahy, has formed a board of directors of 13 members; three members from the New Urban Community Authority, six private sector experts and four representatives from the armed forces.”

Earlier this month, the local Hassan Allam Construction started work on infrastructure for the first phase of the New Capital City. The company was appointed as part of a joint venture with the local Orascom Construction to carry out water, sewerage, electrical and road infrastructure for 3 million square metres of the city, according to a company statement.

In March, MEED reported that Hassan Allam had started work on $783m-worth of schemes in the New Capital City.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts were directly negotiated with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Development.

It is understood the local firm is working on 60 kilometres of roads, a 500-room hotel and a 20,000-seat conference hall.

Egypt’s New Capital City project, which was announced during the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh in March last year, has been central to the government’s promises to improve living standards and press ahead with major housing, infrastructure and transport schemes.