Tall & Urban News

The first office tower in Egypt's New Administrative Capital (NAC) has been completed, according to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).

The C08 building, which is one of two twin towers (alongside the C07), had the final piece of its curtain wall installed earlier in January 2021 making it "the first building to finish" in the NAC's Central Business District, said the CSCEC on its Egypt branch's Facebook page.

In 2017 CSCEC, the world's largest construction company, won a US$3 billion contract from the Egyptian government to collaborate with the Ministry of Housing to build 20 towers in the NAC's business district, including the Iconic Tower which is set to be Africa's tallest skyscraper at 385 meters tall once it's finished in 2022. CSCEC's General Manager in Egypt, Chang Weicai, recently told Xinhua that the tower is being built at a rate of one floor every six days or less.

By the end of this year the Egyptian government said all its ministries would be transferred to the NAC, which is yet to be named and lies east of current capital Cairo. Some 50,000 employees will make the move once they have been evaluated for "skills in Arabic and English, personal skills and computers through international programs", reported Egypt Independent.

Separately, today it has been reported that Egypt has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany's Siemens for the construction of a US$23 billion high-speed train line connecting Egypt's northern and eastern coasts. The electric rail line will run from Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea to New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast, passing through the NAC.

For more on this story, go to Middle East Monitor.