![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabtelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0627\u0635\u0645\u0629-\u0627\u0644\u0625\u062f\u0627\u0631\u064a\u0629-\u0627\u0644\u062c\u062f\u064a\u062f\u0629-780x405.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u2018RUNNING ON TIME<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have clear instructions from his excellency the president that the postponement of the opening is not a delay to the project,\u201d said Khattab. \u201cThe project is running on time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delays in payments to contractors and to imported supplies were additional risks, said Shams Eldin Youssef, a member of Egypt\u2019s union for construction contractors. Khattab said the government had contractors\u2019 payments in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Housing Ministry expects to deliver two residential districts by late 2021, while the business district should be finished by early 2022, said Ahmed al-Araby, deputy head of the new capital\u2019s development authority. Private developers and the army are building six other neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the government district, which Khattab said was 90% complete, ministry buildings fronted with vertical strips of white stone and darkened glass lead to an open area being planted with palm trees and mini obelisks in front of a domed parliament building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To one side a large, low-rise presidential palace is under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sisi has urged people seeking work to head to new cities being built around the country, including the new capital, which Khattab said employs some 250,000 workers.Slideshow (14 Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe question about how rational this is – whether it makes sense economically, whether it is doable, whether it\u2019s the best course of action – this question is not even asked,\u201d Ezzedine Fishere, an Egyptian writer and senior lecturer at Dartmouth College in the United States, said by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other side of Cairo at the new museum next to the Giza pyramids, work has also been continuing at a slower pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In mid-April staffing levels sank to about 40%, with plans to recover gradually to 100%, said General Atef Muftah, who oversees the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Egypt’s economy has stumbled due to the coronavirus outbreak, construction at a new capital taking shape east of Cairo is continuing at full throttle after a short pause to adjust working practices, officials say. The level of activity at the desert site – where trucks rumble down newly built roads and cranes swing over …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":166334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"