An ambitious project to divert a branch of the Nile to build a EGP 1.5 tn new desert city is now officially in the works after private sector developers Palm Hills, Mountain View and Nations of Sky inked a partnership and development contract for the Jirian project with the state, represented by the Egyptian Armed Forces-linked Mostakbal Misr Agency for Sustainable Development, according to a cabinet statement.

Jirian is set to spread over 6.8 sq km in the Sheikh Zayed Axis and house 20k residential units, in addition to commercial areas, hotels, universities, hospitals, international sports clubs, and a media production city. The megaproject is expected to produce 250k jobs, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said after the signing, according to a separate cabinet statement. The first 1.6k feddan phase of the project will be completed in five years, he said.

But the project isn’t just about building a new city, it’s about supporting the New Deltareclamation project. Efforts to add 2.5 mn feddans of agricultural land to the country through desert reclamation need to be supported by residential projects to house the expected 2.5 mn families that will live in this new region, according to Madbouly. The branch of the Nile that will run through Jirian will then flow on to irrigate agricultural areas in the New Delta project.

Residential projects for broader sections of the population will follow, Madbouly said in response to concern that the project only catered to high-income households. Jirian is “only part of a very large urban system that will later include cities and villages serving all sectors,” he explained.

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