New Valley Governorate or El Wadi El Gedid Governorate (Arabic: محافظة الوادي الجديد [moˈħɑfzet elˈwæːdi lɡɪˈdiːd], Muḥāfaẓah al Wādī al Jadīd) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in the southwestern part of the country, in the south of Egypt Western Desert (part of the Sahara Desert), between the Nile, northern Sudan, and southeastern Libya. Consisting of roughly half of Egypt's area, this spacious governorate is the country's largest and most sparsely populated, and one of the biggest subnational divisions on the African continent, as well as the world. At 440,098 square kilometers in area, New Valley Governorate is just slightly larger than the country of Iraq. The capital is at the Kharga Oasis. New Valley Governate is named after the New Valley Project, which aims to irrigate parts of the Western Desert.