CAIRO, Mar 13 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's government launched on Friday a new administrative capital east of Cairo at the cost of $45 billion, during the Egyptian Economic Development Conference.

Addressing the attendees of the conference in the resort city Sharm el-Sheikh, Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouli said the capital is currently being planned with the help of Egyptian and international experts. It is expected to be build within the next five to seven years.

The new capital will be located between Cairo and the Suez Canal region, Madbouli said. He added that the location was chosen after noting that the expansion of Cairo is crawling toward the east.

The new capital would include 490 kilometre square of land available for urban development, to provide 1.1 million housing units and house 5 million citizens Madbouli said. The capital would also include 10,000 roads and a new airport.

Madbouli described the new capital as a "giant project", adding that it is being established to "improve the quality of life for the Egyptian citizen."

"We are talking about a world capital," the minister said, drawing comparisons between the planned capital and international cities such as New York and Barcelona.