Egypt will launch the “Money and Business Center” project with an estimated investment cost of 12.5 billion EGP ($1.63 billion) at the upcoming economic summit scheduled in March, Housing Minister Moustafa Madbouly announced Saturday.
“The project will be located in the southern district in al-Wahar Road in the Sixth of October and Sheikh Zayed cities. It will be implemented to a 2,000- acre land bloc,” Madbouly said in a Saturday statement, NewsNow reported.
Egypt hopes the long-awaited Egypt Economic Development Conference, scheduled to be held in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh March 13-15, would lure fresh investments to boost its limping economy battered by political turmoil since the January 25 Revolution.
Madbouly added that the center will include administrative, commercial, housing units as well as hotels. “The project will be a financial and commercial vein for the western Cairo and would be a landmark which could lure investment to this area.”
Investment returns from the project will range between 25 to 30 percent, said the minister.
The government plans to promote 60 projects at the economic conference, Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman announced at a Thursday press conference.
Madbouly announced earlier in February that the ministry has invited around 150 real estate developers in the private sector to attend the March conference.
The minister also promised in his speech at the Cityscape Egypt real estate event held in Cairo Feb. 10 to offer new land blocs for real estate developers before the end of February, in an attempt to solve land shortages, which can often hinder investment projects in Egypt.
The real estate sector is a main contributor to Egypt’s economic growth, affecting more than 90 industries, and accounting for at least 8 percent of the country’s labor force. The sector represented 4.6 percent of Egypt’s GDP during the 2012/2013 fiscal year, roughly 80 billion EGP (U.S. $11.5 billion,) according to data from the Ministry of Housing.
