Al Bayda, Capital of the United Arab Republic

This is my argument for Al Bayda Libya to be the capital of a United Arab Republic of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

The number one criteria in my opinion is that the new capital of the newly united country should not be any of the current capitals of Tunis, Tripoli or Cairo.  The new capital will be, as the new nation will be, a new start.  Each of the current capitals has an entrenched bureaucracy and an overwhelming bias towards its current government.

The only way for a new country to truly create a new government is to do it in a new city.  A new bureaucracy derived from a mixture of citizens from each of the individual old countries will be needed.  It is also a way to take the best of each and leave the worst of each behind.

It should also be noted that each of the former capitals will still be a major metropolitan economic, social and cultural center for not only the old nations but as part of a new and much larger nation.  It is my belief that by taking the central government role from each city they will be in turn able to focus much greater resources and talent upon making each city a more vibrant and livable city.

We next go with geographic consideration.  This is perhaps the easiest to justify.  In uniting three nations it is logical that the capital would be placed in the nation at the center of the three or Libya.

The third consideration for Libya is that it will be, for the foreseeable early future, the main economic source of foreign capital income.  This too is a primary consideration in placing the capital somewhere in Libya.

Because of the first three considerations we must now determine where in Libya to place the new capital of a United Arab Republic.

As noted Tripoli has been rejected for many notable reasons.  It is on this same set of arguments on a national scale that I also feel that Benghazi and Sabha should not be considered.  Here too in a much larger United Arab Republic the three cities of Tripoli, Banghazi and Sabha will be regional metropolitan centers with great influence not only in their particular regions but on a national scale as well.

Of the three major regions of Libya I felt that the new capital should be somewhere in the Cyrenaica district. This was based upon geographic proximity to Egypt, by far the population center of the newly united countries.

I also felt it should be on the Libyan Coastal Highway.

While I considered a few other cities; Derna, Tobruk and even Sirte to the west, I concluded that Derna and Tobruk were perhaps not large enough and Sirte had great damage and a recent history that would be hard to overcome to be considered for the capital.

That left me with Al Bayda.  Or just Bayda if you will.

It had at one time, briefly been the old capital and was being considered again under the last regime to again be the capital but nothing came of it.

The city is, however, large enough to accommodate the infrastructure needed for a capital of a country of 100 million.  The city is also home to many industrial, financial and agricultural industries so there is a knowledgeable local population that has the skills and human resources to provide the basis of a bureaucracy.

The city also has a temperate climate to allow for year round ability to function as a comfortable city.

Bayda is also home to a very diverse population of citizens.  They represent much of the ethnic diversity found right across the entire United Arab Republic already.  

The city also has a regional environment that allows for sustainable growth of the city into a larger metropolitan center, with access to water and other resources.

Finally the city represents, to me, the very qualities that a United Arab Republic would take pride in considering the choice of the city as the capital.

It is a capital city born of compromise and yet represents the best that the entire new nation has to offer.  I  feel that any citizen of the United Arab Republic would come to the capital and  take pride not only in the city, but in themselves and their new country.

As the city is built to accommodate the new larger nation, so too will the entire nation be rebuilt and grow to be a nation that anyone could be proud to call home.