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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat

Egypt Postpones Launch of Mega Projects to 2021 due to Coronavirus

A medical staff member in protective gear checks the temperature of a student amid concerns over the coronavirus, Cairo, Egypt, March 15, 2020. (Reuters)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday postponed the launch of mega-projects including the Grand Egyptian Museum and moving civil servants to a planned new capital city to 2021 from 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, the presidency said.

The new museum had been due to open later this year, while the first group of civil servants was to be transferred to the government district in the new administrative capital in June.

Sisi’s government has said it wants to start running Egypt from the new city, the $58 billion project 45 km (28 miles) east of Cairo, as soon as the middle of 2020.

Egypt has reported around 1,000 confirmed cases and 66 fatalities from the global pandemic.

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