industrial district of Al-Iskandariyyah ( Alexandria) muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northern Egypt. The centre of the 913-square-mile (2,365-square-km) district, which adjoins Lake Maryūṭ (Mareotis) on the southwest, is Al-ʿĀmiriyyah town. This town was originally a small gypsum-mining centre on the desert roads leading south to Cairo and west along the coast to Marsā Maṭrūḥ. Al-ʿĀmiriyyah's modern development began in the late 1970s, when construction started on major industrial plants in the district, including an oil refinery and textile, steel, and chemical plastics plants operated with energy from the natural-gas field at Abū Qīr Bay. The area is served by the port at Al-Dukhaylah to the north, by Alexandria's airports at Nuzhah and Burj al-ʿArab (Burg el-ʿArab), and by the railroad linking Alexandria and Marsā Maṭrūḥ. It also is situated beside the desert highway linking Alexandria with Cairo.