Robbiki Leather Cityمدينة الجلود بالروبيكي

Robbiki was built to relocate Egypt's tanneries — long concentrated in old Cairo districts like Magra al-Oyoun — into a single, purpose-designed city. Tanning and leatherworking is an ancient and important Egyptian trade, but it had outgrown its cramped, polluting historic quarters. By moving the industry to a modern hub, Robbiki gives it room to operate efficiently and safely, away from dense residential areas.

A key advantage of the city is its shared environmental infrastructure — centralized systems to treat the wastewater and manage the byproducts that tanning produces. This makes the industry far cleaner and more sustainable than the old scattered workshops, addressing pollution while supporting the trade. Modern facilities and services help leather producers raise quality and meet the standards needed for export markets.

By concentrating the industry, Robbiki strengthens the whole leather value chain — from tanning to finished goods like shoes, bags, and garments — and supports its growth and exports. It is a good example of Egypt's strategy of building specialized industrial cities for particular trades, like furniture at Damietta and gold and jewelry, as part of the wider industrial modernization.

• What it is: a purpose-built city for Egypt's leather and tanning industry.
• Arabic name: مدينة الجلود بالروبيكي (Robbiki Leather City).
• Purpose: relocating tanneries from old Cairo into one modern hub.
• Feature: shared environmental and wastewater systems.
• Benefit: cleaner, more efficient, export-ready production.
• Model: a specialized industrial city for one trade.

Sources include industry and official reports on Egyptian manufacturing. Figures are approximate.