SADAT, MADINAT AS-

industrial city, in al-Buhayrah muhafazah (governorate), between Wadi an-Natrun and the western edge of the Nile delta, Lower Egypt. Construction on Madinat as-Sadat (named for President Anwar el-Sadat) began in the early 1980s, as part of the Egyptian government's program to shift population and industry away from Cairo and the agricultural land of the Nile valley. The city is 58 miles (94 km) northwest of Cairo, in the desert, and covers an area of 19 square miles (48 square km). It is located near the main Cairo-to-Alexandria highway and also near a local road leading into the Nile valley.