The annual demand of Egyptians for residential property has reached 600,000 units, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly announced Tuesday during a meeting held with his Saudi counterpart Majed Al-Hogail and Egypt’s Ambassador in Saudi Nasser Hamdy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Madbouly’s visit to Saudi comes in light of the Egyptian–Saudi Coordination Council meetings, which began Sunday and were chaired by International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr. Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on 11 November to establish the coordination council to execute the components of the Cairo Declaration, which was signed in August.
The Cairo Declaration, signed by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Prince Mohamed Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Seoud, aims to enhance cooperation between the two countries in six different areas: the military, investment, trade, politics, culture, and the media.
The Housing Minister said Egypt is currently constructing 25 new cities on 900,000 feddans, highlighting the potential investment opportunities Saudi businessmen have in the country.
Last month, Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou stated that bilateral discussions are being held between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on plans to build the largest tourist resort in Sharm El-Sheikh. He said the investment required for the project is approximately $4bn.
Two other construction projects are currently taking place. The first is the Social Housing Programme, a project through which the government is aiming to provide one million units, around 200,000 residential units per year, for low-income Egyptian citizens.
This housing project was first announced during the 25 January Revolution in 2011 by former president Hosni Mubarak’s final housing minister, Ahmed Al-Maghrab.
The government has completed the construction of 99,000 units and is currently finalising the construction of 145,000 additional units.
The second is the New Administrative Capital, which was first launched in March 2014 during the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC).
An Egyptian-Chinese alliance was formed earlier this week following the signing of seven memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to implement projects for the new capital. The alliance will construct the new cabinet’s building along with 12 other ministerial buildings, a new convention centre, a fairground, and 15,000 residential units for low and middle income citizens.
