Egypt's president announces new 'dream capital' city in desert

The idea is colossal - building an eco-friendly city the size of Singapore in the desert outside Cairo, a sleek new capital fit for the 21st century where a diverse slice of society will live in harmony.

Of the projects unveiled at the corporate jamboree that was Egypt's economic conference last weekend, "The Capital Cairo" is the biggest and least transparent endeavour, the latest mega-project ordered by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to kick-start an ailing economy.

There will be leafy mixed-use neighbourhoods, housing for up to seven million people, 2,000 schools, shopping malls, solar-energy farms, efficient public transport, skyscrapers, a million new jobs and even a central park more than twice the size of New York City's. It's everything missing from Egypt today - with a price tag of up to US$80 billion.

For urban planners, the project - described as "a dream of what could become reality" - is a mystery, hastily conceived with no concrete information on funding. Questions stick out over the actual demand for so many units, who will build required infrastructure and how to attract a diverse cross-section of society.

Is a flashy Dubai-style city feasible in impoverished Egypt?

Crowds flocked to a scale model of the city during the conference in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where companies and states committed US$36 billion in investments and billions more in preliminary agreements. In his closing remarks, Sisi said he was "in a hurry" to see the new capital built and urged work done faster than the original 10-year time frame.