The way

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Plans to create a 400km long belt around the Nile Delta from right to left along the lines of the Cairo Ring Road reflect the administration's belief in the economic importance of roads, writes Samir Sobhi. The planned road should connect five governorate capitals in the north of the country with the "new cities" north and south of Cairo and the desert both east and west of the Nile Valley. The estimated LE2 billion project should reduce traffic congestion, encouraging movement out of Cairo and land reclamation among other forms of development.