El Sisi using megaprojects to inspire sense of “national achievement”

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is using vast infrastructure megaprojects “to inspire a sense of national achievement and economic might” ahead of the upcoming presidential elections, Jared Malsin writes for The Wall Street Journal. “This is not investment [capital]. This is political [capital] … The long-term consequences of this are very negative for the economy. You think of the waste of resources at a time when the country is in desperate need,” Egypt expert Robert Springborg says, describing the most recent slew of megaprojects. Malsin says El Sisi’s “affinity for megaprojects fits into a pharaonic pattern of Egypt’s leaders building ambitious landmarks during their time in office.”