The new Egyptian capital's central business district (CBD) is getting the "green development" treatment courtesy of China's largest construction company

China State Construction Engineering Corporation's Egyptian subsidiary was awarded the bulk of the contract for the 2018-started project essential to Egypt's ambitious goal to develop a new modern city some 50 km east of the present capital, Cairo (CSCEC Egypt).

"As a key project of the Belt and Road Initiative, it is our responsibility to practice and promote the idea of green development. We hope that the CBD will serve as a model of green development under the initiative," Yuan Hao, design director of the CSCEC Egypt, told Xinhua.

From the beginning of planning, the CBD has been given an efficient public transportation system and pedestrian system, which encourages everyone to take public transportation or walk to achieve "green travel," Yuan explained.

A regional energy station was set up to centrally cool CBD's high-rise buildings, while a thermal tank was also installed to reduce the peak load and improve the utilization rate of electric energy. "In terms of the architectural design, different kinds of concrete are used, which greatly reduces construction energy consumption and improves the thermal insulation performance of the building," Yuan said.

The Iconic Tower, at 385 metres, is the highest building in Africa, and the CBD project encompasses around 505,000 square metres, including 20 business and residential buildings and supporting municipal infrastructure. Using aluminium moulds instead of traditional wooden ones, the Chinese company offered its substantial experience in green construction to the CBD project, according to Yuan, who also noted that the new technology has significantly improved the recycling rate of building materials. According to the Chinese engineer, a reclaimed water system was installed at the construction site to purify sewage water for on-site dust collection, irrigation, and vehicle cleaning.

"Benefiting from the rapid domestic development, we took the lead in exploring a set of green construction technologies suitable for developing countries that are more pragmatic and have been tested in practice," Yuan said.

 Mohammed Hamdy Salama, an Egyptian mechanical engineer with the CSCEC Egypt, said the company keeps seeking new ideas to save energy. "In our work on the CBD project, we use rock wool to improve the insulation; we also use the double glass facade for all towers. This enhances energy efficiency by reducing the cooling loads inside the buildings," he said.

In addition to turning off the lights and other electric equipment in all the towers when the employees left, Salama said a thermal tank was placed to help the chillers run continuously. The Egyptian engineer remarked that China's long-term growth goals of five or ten years are consistent with the philosophy of CSCEC Egypt.