Actor Mohamed Sobhy, chairman of the Ma’an for Developing Slums Foundation, described the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) as ‘brilliant’, adding that “the new administrative capital will be inhabited by the rich only.”
In a phone call with a talk show on the privately-owned TV channel Ten on Monday, Sobhy said that Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb offered the foundation land to establish a city to resolve the slum problem. This new city will have 5,300 housing units, a hospital, a mall, a cinema, a theater and an Al-Azhar institute for languages.
According to Sobhy, Egypt has approximately 1,221 shanty towns in which 25 million Egyptians are living. Of those slums, 380 of them are considered unsafe.
Sobhy added that the foundation has studied development projects implemented in slums in Brazil and Mexico.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
