The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) will receive documents from the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) on Monday that outline pricing mechanisms of TDA lands.
According to a senior official in the tourism ministry, the New Urban Communities Authority requested TDA’s opinion in regards to land prices.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the documents include the maps of lands managed by the authority in different regions, in addition to the mechanism of developing the lands. They also include details of projects that the authority seeks to offer in each region.
According to the official, the land pricing process is subject to a number of aspects, mostly the investment satiety in the region and the available infrastructure or nearby lands which the authority intends to offer.
He said that the land prices differ from one place to another and prices have increased in the last two years, exceeding $80 per metre in Ain Sokhna.
Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou told Daily News Egypt that the ministry will receive the pricing mechanism of lands managed by TDA, to offer lands in promising investment areas in the North Coast and South Sinai.
“We have strong investment opportunities to be offered during fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016, in coordination with all the state authorities, the ministry of investment or governorates, which reflects the coordination between the various parties,” he added.
Tourism investments on lands managed by TDA amount to EGP 68bn, most of which are located in the Red Sea and South Sinai governorates, according to the chief executive of TDA, Serag El-Din Saad.
Saad added that land offerings will be conducted in coordination with the locals, to benefit the local community in these areas of tourism investments.
“We coordinate with the governor of Matruh and we have held meetings with him to study launching projects in the region to develop lands managed by the authority and nearby residential areas,” he said.
An investor in the tourism sector in Matruh said that tourism development opportunities in Matruh, Sinai or the Gulf of Suez face obstacles related to the Bedouins’ illegal possession of lands, as well as the existence of urban communities within the lands managed by TDA.
He added that the Bedouins refuse to leave the lands, unless they get adequate compensation of up to EGP 500,000 per acre.
