New Cairo

New Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة الجديدة el-Qāhera el-Gedīda) is a satellite city within the governorate of Cairo, Egypt, and the metropolitan area of Greater Cairo. Administratively, it is part of the Eastern Area of Cairo city, but like all 'New Cities' in Egypt, it is administered by the New Urban Communities Authority. The city was established in 2000 by merging three 'new' towns (The First, Third, Fifth and Sixth Settlements translit. Al-Tagammu' al-awwal, al-thalith, al-khames, al-sades, Arabic:التجمع الأول والثالث والخامس), originally on an area of about 67,000 acres which had grown to 85,000 acres by 2016. In 2024, it had expanded further to 99,814 acres.
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.
On 27 April 2016, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi inaugurated the new headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in New Cairo. The complex covers about 52,000 square metres (560,000 sq ft).
New Cairo, like most new cities in Egypt, is not administratively a city under Local Administration Law, rather a group of three qisms (police wards) attached to the Eastern Area of Cairo proper: Al-Qahira al-Gadida Awwal, Thani, and Thalith (New Cairo 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). New Cairo is jointly administered by the Ministry of Housing's New Urban Communities Authority through a subsidiary agency (gehaz al-Qahira al-Gadida), and Cairo Governorate.
According to the 2017 census New Cairo's three qisms had a combined population of 297,387 residents:
Al-Qahira al-Gadida Awwal had 135,834 residents across its four shiakhas (quarters):
Al-Qahira al-Gadida Thani had 90,668 residents across its three shiakhas:
Al-Qahira al-Gadida Thalith had 70,885 residents across its five shiakhas:
The Petrified Forest Protected Area is of particular significance to geologists, located south of New Cairo. It is a protected site.
There are dozens of factories in New Cairo. General Electric are working with the American University in New Cairo on energy initiatives. El Sewedy Electric has its headquarters in the Fifth Settlement of New Cairo.
The city is connected to other cities by a vast network of bus lines, and construction has begun for a monorail line that connects the city with the Cairo suburb of Nasr City to the west, and the New Administrative Capital to the east. The city gets its drinking water from a water plant in Obour City, nearby.
A branch of Al Ahly SC is currently under construction in the eastern part of the city. There is also a championship golf course with tennis lies in the Kattameya section of the city.
At the entrance of New Cairo is Cairo Festival City, a 285 hectare (700 acres) real estate development which has parks, games, pools, gardens, walkways, business office space, a large mall and a dancing fountain. In addition to that, there are many other malls in New Cairo including Point 90, Downtown Kattameya, Porto Cairo, Emerald Plaza and Park mall, in addition to numerous other, smaller malls.
Demand for real estate in New Cairo has been very high, with prices per meter for apartments averaging around E£10,000, and for villas E£19,000. It has continued increasing, especially after the construction of the New Administrative Capital to the east. The government has also moved many services and administrations to the city, the most notable of which were the Traffic Administration offices of Nasr City, Heliopolis and New Cairo (which was previously located in El Shorouk) in 2020, as they were all moved into one three-floor building in the southern part of the city.
The city is home to two professional football clubs: ENPPI SC, formed in 1985, plays at the Petrosport Stadium, and Pyramids FC, who play at the 30 June Stadium. Although the two teams are based in New Cairo, they neither represent the city nor carry its name. Two new semi professional teams,1st Settlement Youth and Katameya Petrosport Club, which carry the names of neighbourhoods of the city, have joined the Egyptian Fourth Division.
There are several mosques in New Cairo, but currently only one church, the Virgin Mary and St. Bishoy Coptic Church in the Fifth Settlement. The city is also home to a Coptic monastery, the Patmos Monastery of St. John the Beloved. In September 2016, the president approved the construction of a new Coptic Orthodox church in the city.