The Civil Aviation Ministry signed contracts Sunday with the Saudi Arabian Bin Laden Group to build a new terminal for Egypt's Hurghada International Airport and a five-star hotel--replete with commercial and entertainment facilities--at the Cairo International Airport. Ibrahim Manaa, president of the state-run Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, announced that a number of additional development projects would be carried out later this year. These are expected to include expansions of the Aswan and Borg el-Arab airports, along with a new runway and monorail for Cairo's international airport. The new terminal in Hurghada will increase the airport's capacity to 7.5 million passengers a year. It will be built on 92,000 square meters of land at a total cost of LE587 million. The planned Cairo airport hotel, meanwhile, will consist of 330 rooms, 20 luxury suites and a ballroom able to accommodate up to 400 people. It will cost a total of LE500 million. Nearby commercial and entertainment centers, to be built on 2.8 million square meters of land, will include a theme park, several shopping malls and 18 cinemas, at a total cost of LE950 million. According to Manaa, the holding company plans to increase its total investment portfolio to LE16.2 billion as of 2012. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
