Egypt Plans to Develop South Med Project

The Egyptian government has announced the development of the South Mediterranean project on the North Coast, in partnership with the private sector, with investments estimated at about $21 billion.

The project will be executed by Talaat Moustafa Group Holding in partnership with the Egyptian government, with the project being built on approximately 23 million sq m in the North Coast area of the country.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, said that the new project will generate approximately $21 billion in taxes and profits for the Egyptian state from its share in the project.

Moustafa expects sales from the new project to reach approximately $35 billion, and said that since the opening of sales early this week, the company has achieved sales worth $12.5 million within hours of opening reservations.

Attract Foreign Tourists

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that the Egyptian government has been working to make the North Coast a destination to attract foreign tourists to Egypt and the government expects this project, along with other mega projects being implemented in New Alamein City, will attract people to reside and foreign tourists to visit.

Madbouly said that the government intends to provide more job opportunities for young people in North Coast to encourage and attract many of them to reside in the area through the implementation of a large and integrated group of projects, including New Alamein City.

“We are keen to make the North Coast of Egypt a destination that is focused on by various state agencies to maximise the tourism sector and provide a large number of hotel and tourist rooms in this area. Our destination in the coming period will be the North Coast,” he added.

In February, Egypt and the UAE signed a real estate investment deal, under which ADQ Holding Company will acquire the rights to develop the Ras El-Hikma project on Egypt’s North Coast for $24 billion, in addition to transferring $11 billion from Emirati deposits in the Central Bank of Egypt.

The Egyptian government received $35 billion as the total value of the Ras Al-Hikma deal, divided into $15 billion as a first payment, followed by $14 billion as a second payment, in addition to waiving an Emirati dollar deposit with the Central Bank of Egypt worth $6 billion.

The tourism sector is one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt, contributing about 12% to the GDP and providing jobs for around 3 million people.