Arabtec to launch $40bn Egypt housing scheme by 2014-end
UAE developer plans to begin first phase of its Egypt housing project
UAE developer Arabtec has announced plans to launch phase one of its $40 billion housing project in Egypt by the end of 2014, it was reported.
The firm expects to finalize an agreement soon with the Egyptian government to start construction. A group of companies will be set up by Arabtec to implement the first phase and provide the country with housing units and public services in exchange for land and facilities required for the project, Reuters reported.
“The company will not sell vacant land but affordable housing units. Then it will deliver public services’ buildings to the Urban Communities Authority, who will in turn transfer their ownership to the concerned authorities,” said Khaled Abbas, Egypt’s assistant minister of housing for technical affairs, quoted in a company statement.
Arabtec announced this March that it would build a million homes in 13 locations around Egypt to ease the country’s looming housing shortage. The first homes were to be delivered in 2017, with the entire project slated for completion in 2020.
Although construction was scheduled to start in the third quarter of this year, it has failed to begin so far, The National reported.
