Translation: Muhammad Khalid
With the beginning of the year 2023, the gradual moving of the government employees and bodies to the new headquarters in the Governmental District of the New Administrative Capital started after all necessary preparations have been completed. Moving to the new capital is a milestone and an important stage, as it constitutes a significant leap in government performance and upgrading work mechanisms at various levels.
Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, stated that the Egyptian state was able to implement this huge volume of work within 5 years to implement a new capital, while any new capital typically takes about 20 years to execute globally.
Last November, the Cabinet announced that a number of departments had already started working regularly within its organizational structure from offices that are designated and equipped for them, at the government headquarters in NAC. The Cabinet said that the arrangements for the government’s transition to work in the new capital are proceeding at a rapid pace, and according to a specific timetable, with the aim of operating the whole government body from the respective offices in the Government District.
The Government District is situated at 150 feddans and the built-up area accounts for only 28%, and the remaining area is dedicated to green spaces. The district also contains 10 ministerial complexes housing a total of 34 ministries, in addition to the Cabinet and the House of Representatives buildings. Buildings are implemented within an axis with an area of 430,000 sqm, while each complex span over 170,000 sqm. The total area of the ministerial complexes amounts to around 1.5 mn sqm.
Restructuring State Institutions
Saleh Al-Sheikh, President of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration (CAOA), confirmed that the administrative reform measures taken by the government contributed to qualifying state institutions to move to NAC.
He pointed out that the CAOA has finished updating the organizational structure of the ministries and authorities moving to NAC, in order to suit the modern work mechanisms in the new capital and the development of work in these institutions.
The agency also digitalized most of the paper documents and updated the data of all employees at the institutions moving to NAC, Al-Sheikh says, adding that more than 76,000 employees have received training preparing them to move to NAC.
Transferring Employees
For his part, Khaled Abbas, Chairman of Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), stated that, since the beginning of this year, implementation of the government’s transfer to the Administrative Capital has begun. He remarks: “We started with the Cabinet and will follow with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, before moving the Ministry of Planning.”
He adds that the transfer of employees to work in NAC will be gradual, meaning that the number of transferred employees will increase day after day, highlighting that the process of transferring ministries to new government headquarters in the new capital will start in January and end in March, at a rate of 10 ministries per month, so that all authorities will be ready to carry out their entire activities in the Government District by the end of Q1 2023.
Abbas revealed further plans to the press that include the transfer of about 30,000 employees, most of whom will reside in the Capital Gardens and Badr cities, while the rest of the employees will be granted commuting allowance by the government. He comments that a schedule has been made to transfer several ministries every week to NAC.
Abbas stated, in an exclusive interview with Invest-Gate, that there is a plan with the Prime Minister to transfer a number of ministries every week, and there are 16 ministries already working there. By mid-May, all ministries will be transferred, and the government will be run from the administrative capital.
ACUD’s chairman says that at the beginning of next March, all procedures for transferring employees will have been completed, and there will be 12 bodies operating within NAC, stressing that there are citizens living in some neighborhoods in the new capital, adding that all facilities have been implemented. Abbas reveals that an agreement has been made with the Ministry of Transport to allocate areas for bus stations for employees, within the smart mass transit system executed by the ministry.
On a different note, Hani Mahmoud, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Administrative Reform, told the press that the employees transferred to NAC represent 33 ministries from within the General Court of Ministries and Authorities, adding that employees that are already serving public will be excluded from the transfer in the first stage.
The Transfer Plans
The Egyptian government has adopted a 3-stage plan to transfer its affiliated entities to their new headquarters. The first phase includes 8 ministries, 3 authorities, and 3 other entities, as of January 1st, 2023. Next March will witness the transfer of a number of ministries and government authorities within the second phase. The rest of the authorities will be transferred by the end of next June.
The first phase of the transfer includes housing, transportation, communications, planning, youth and sports, social solidarity, civil aviation, and electricity ministries, alongside the General Secretariat of Cabinet, the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, and the Universal Health Insurance Authority, the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement, Medical Supply, and Technology Management, The General Authority for Healthcare Accreditation and Regulation, and the Information and Decision Support Center.
ACUD has completed the implementation of more than 70% of the first phase in the capital, which will be built on an area of about 40,000 feddans and include 10 residential areas. ACUD noted that more than 98% of the Government District is completed, while 7 international universities have entered into operation.
Relocation Incentives
The President of CAOA said that the Egyptian government has set a number of incentives for workers wishing to move to the new capital, including a discount of up to EGP 100,000 on the value of membership in the club affiliated with the Ministry of Youth.
He revealed that the Ministry of Youth agreed on reducing membership fees from EGP 200,000 to EGP 100,000 for the benefit of NAC’s employees, adding that about 51% of the employees expressed their desire to participate.
Within the framework of the incentive packages provided by the state to workers in the government sector in the new capital, Ambassador Bassam Rady, the previous Spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic, said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi directs for offering housing units at discounted prices for employees moving to work in the NAC, in the High-Income Housing project in the R3 district.
In December 2022, the Cabinet approved mechanisms to incentivize employees to move to the new capital, as well as incentives for employees to obtain housing units, whether in Badr City or in R3, based on controls and determinants that ensure that these units are not disposed of.
Employees’ Housing Projects
Ammar Mandour, the Head of the Badr City Development Authority, announced that the first phase of constructing housing units for the employees of NAC in the city has been completed, by constructing 9,024 housing units in 376 buildings, and they are being delivered to employees moving to the new capital.
As for the second phase of employees’ housing in NAC, which includes 196 buildings with 4,704 housing units, Mandour notes that 81% of it is completed. He adds that 20% of electrical work is being implemented. Last March, work began on the third phase, which incorporates constructing 295 buildings with 7,080 housing units, and 21% of it is completed, Mandour unveils.
In the same context, ACUD’s chairman stated that these units, which are being implemented in Badr City, are set to be delivered from March 2023 until the end of the year.
New Capital Investments
Abbas told Invest-Gate that ACUD has invested nearly EGP 300 bn in infrastructure, including water, sewage, and others. He also pointed out that the volume of investments in the new administrative capital has so far exceeded EGP 1 tn.
The CEO of NAC revealed that the volume of investments in the city has exceeded EGP 1 tn so far, and there are 18 projects implemented by a partnership between the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) and real estate developers, on an area of 24,000 feddans over a period of 10 years, creating 1.2 mn jobs.