CAIRO: A Saudi developer offered to invest up to $7 billion to build some 200,000 residential units for low and middle income Egyptian buyers, Egypt’s state news agency reported on Monday.
The agency said Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met on Monday with one of the "biggest Saudi businessmen from Alsharif group who offered to do a huge housing project in Egypt… and the prime minister has expressed his approval for the project."
The report did not give a timeframe for the project or name the Saudi businessman.
Egypt’s real estate sector is in crisis after mass protests ejected the country’s president and cast a spotlight on corruption among government officials during his 30-year tenure.
Analysts say the industry now needs to switch its focus towards middle-income property to ensure its longer term survival.
The government is under pressure to provide housing for young people in Egypt, where lacking a home is seen as a major obstacle to marriage.
On Saturday the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) said it launched a company with capital of $168 million to invest in Egypt’s economy.
