Egypt's Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouli said on Saturday that Emirati construction firm Arabtec Holding has accepted the Egyptian government's conditions on a major real estate project, state agency MENA reported. The project, worth $40 billion (305 billion Egyptian pounds), will see the construction of a million housing units in 13 sites across Egypt. In the first phase of the project, 100,000 housing units will be built. Arabtec signed a memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian Defence Ministry in March 2014 but the deal was slowed down during negotiations on the final details. The minister was cited by MENA as saying that the Dubai-based company sent a letter in which it accepted Egypt's conditions. He added that the final signing of deal is due to happen within the next few days. Madbouli made the remarks on the sidelines of the Egypt Economic Development Conference, which Egypt has long been campaigning for. The state hopes that it will bring investments needed to revamp its economy which has been battered by years of political instability. So far deals worth billions of dollars have been signed with the Egyptian government. Madbouli said memorandums of understanding have been signed to implement four major projects, bringing in investments worth tens of billions of dollars. These include an agreement with Emirati construction firm Emaar to build the first phase of the new administrative capital Egypt has launched. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/125272.aspx
