Egypt: Deal with UAE’s Alabbar to build $45bn capital city ‘is still on’
Ministry of Housing denies report claiming memorandum of understanding with Alabbar’s Capital City Partners had been terminated
Negotiations to build a new $45 billion capital city in Egypt are ongoing, authorities say, following a report that a deal with a UAE-based partner had been terminated.
Capital City Partners (CCP), which is led by UAE businessman and Emaar boss Mohamed Alabbar, in March signed an initial agreement to build the administrative capital.
An Egyptian newspaper on Wednesday reported that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been terminated.
But Egypt’s Ministry of Housing spokesperson Wafaa Bakry told Daily News Egypt that the rumours the MoU had been terminated are untrue.
“Negotiations are still ongoing secretly with the presidency and reports of its termination are incorrect,” she is reported as saying.
The ambitious plan to build a new capital city reportedly hit stumbling blocks earlier this month, with Mustafa Madbouly, Egypt’s housing minister, saying there had been “complications” in contract negotiations.
Egypt plans a new city the size of Singapore to house government departments, under plans that also include an airport bigger than London Heathrow. A site to the east of Cairo has been earmarked for the new capital.
