The area, modelled on Paris in the 1860s, is filled with elegant but crumbling buildings constructed over the subsequent seven decades. The Sovereign Fund has already taken control of three prime properties in central Cairo, and received ownership of 11 former ministry buildings in a decree published this week in the official gazette. "Some of the buildings are already evacuated, but there is a mobilisation plan for relocating into concentrated locations for whoever is staying and not moving to the new capital," Soliman said. Work on the ground would begin "probably within the first half of this year," Soliman said. It would include a three-star Moxy hotel by Marriott, the first in Egypt, Soliman said.

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Persons: Patrick Werr CAIRO, Ayman Soliman, Soliman, We're, Patrick Werr, Aidan Lewis, Alex Richardson Organizations: Sovereign Fund, Misr Insurance, Reuters, European Bank for Reconstruction, National Democratic Party, NDP, Marriott Locations: Paris, Cairo, Egypt