You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

As a long-time foreign correspondent, I've worked in lots of places, but nowhere is

important to the world as China. I'm Jane Perlase, former Beijing Bureau Chief for the New York

Times. On face-off, the U.S. versus China will explore what's critical to this important global

relationship. Trump and Xi Jinping, AI, TikTok, and even Hollywood. New episodes of Face Off are

available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Egypt has been in a building economic and political crisis for years now, and yet the solution from the government has been a brand new capital city in the middle of the

desert. In an expansive desert that is 30 miles east of Cairo, Egypt's new unnamed city is rising

out of seemingly nothing but sand and debt.

I mean, when I say debt, I mean we're talking mountains of debt.

Already boasting the tallest tower in Africa as well as the biggest cathedral in the Middle East,

this city is one of a series of President Abdel Fata El Sisi's grand megaprojects that is intended

to develop the country's economy and build a monument of glory in his and the state's name, something that, especially in recent years, has come into serious question.

Construction of this new administrative capital began back in 2016, and it is something that is supposed to be completed in phases,

phases that are continuously seemingly delayed and also severely

over budget. According to Khalid Abbas, who is the chairman of the administrative capital for

urban development, or ACUD, which is the company overseeing the project, phase one is almost

complete, and phase two is expected to begin in the last quarter of this next year.

At the point in time that I'm making this video, more than 1,500 families have moved into

the new capital, at least according to a boss. And by the end of 2024, he expects this number

to have risen to around 10,000 families. But honestly, when we were looking at this entire thing,

that number is tiny in comparison to the vast emptiness of the veritable ghost towns around them, which is a problem, considering that quite literally billions of dollars have already been poured into this project, which, as I said before, is severely over budget, with very little to show for that money.

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