CAIRO: Emaar Egypt is currently looking into acquiring a new land plot in the Ain Sokhna Red Sea resort, making it the single largest foreign direct investor in Egypt's evergreen real estate sector. Emaar is very bullish on the Egyptian real-estate market, which [embraces] one of Emaar s largest investments outside of Dubai, Sameh Muhtadi, CEO of Emaar Egypt, previously told the Daily News Egypt. Still, [with the current real-estate boom on the Egyptian market,] the market is still at its very early stages. And if we did not think it was worth it, we wouldn t make all these investments. Emaar Egypt has recently offered to purchase the land plot from the Holding Company for Tourism (HCT) after a consortium of investors failed to meet the deadline for the initial bidding. HCT is currently holding negotiations with Emaar Egypt to settle on land price and means of payment. It can, however, freeze the sale of Ain Sokhna land plot in case negotiations with Emaar failed and re-offer the land for sale at a later date. Besides its forthcoming venture in Ain Sokhna, Emaar Egypt is pouring in investments amounting to around $5.54 billion in four mega-projects, namely Uptown Cairo in Mokattam, Marassi Resort on the North Coast, a residential community project in New Cairo City, and Cairo Gate - a residential-commercial project located on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. Emaar Egypt is the wholly owned subsidiary of the UAE-based Emaar Properties, one of the world's largest real estate developers with an investment portfolio that extends to 13 countries worldwide. Emaar is also active in developing new competencies in malls, hospitality and leisure, education, healthcare, and finance. Emaar's most celebrated and widely publicized project is the Burj Dubai development. With a total investment value of $20 billion, Burj Dubai comprises the world's tallest tower, the world's largest shopping mall, the world's biggest musical fountain, nine world-class hotels - including the region's first Georgio Armani Hotel - world-class restaurants, residential units, walking boulevards, sports facilities, cinemas, lakes, an aquarium, an ice-skating arena, a library, and an observation platform overlooking the entire city of Dubai. Dubbed Emaar's iconic tower, Burj Dubai now qualifies to be the world's tallest building after surpassing the height of CN Tower in Toronto - the current title holder of the world's tallest freestanding structure. At 1,821.85 feet, Burj Dubai now scales 150 storeys high, the largest number of floor for any building in the world. The number of floors is expected to reach more than 160 levels. Excavation began in 2004, and with one floor going up every three days, the construction of the entire Burj should be complete by the end of 2008. Upon completion, Dubai's landmark tower - with a total investment value of $1.1 billion - will be the tallest structure in the world, meeting all four of the criteria set by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The Council measures height to the structural top, the highest occupied floor, height to the top of the roof, and height to the tip of the spire, pinnacle, antenna, mast or flagpole.
