CAIRO: SODIC and Solidere International signed an agreement to co-develop Westown and Eastown, located on the CairoAlexandria Desert Road. Solidere's work on the project will cover 250,000 square meters of SODIC's 1.2 million square meters site, the company said in a statement. The agreement was accompanied with letters of intent confirming SODIC and Solidere International's commitment to jointly develop the projects; which will include a sprawling shopping mall, modern office buildings and residential developments in Westown, in addition to a regional shopping mall project in Eastown in New Cairo. Internationally renowned architects, The Jerde Partnership and Callison, have already begun work on the concept designs of the malls while Nabil Gholam Architecture and Planning has started on the master plan and residential zones. Comprising over 600,000 square meters of built up area; the development cost of these joint projects is expected to exceed $750 million. "Solidere International's early exercise and commitment to invest in and jointly develop these projects with SODIC reflects our absolute confidence in these projects as well as the Egyptian market, stated Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Solidere International. Maher Maksoud, Managing Director of SODIC, said, "This agreement marks the evolution of our relationship with Solidere International. The scale of this investment underscores their commitment towards Eastown and Westown and the early exercise of these options confirms the commitment of both parties to delivering these projects in an extremely quick timeframe. "The appointment of world class architects such as The Jerde Partnership for the Eastown mall, along with a host of internationally renowned architects, shows our joint commitment to execute the Eastown and Westown master plans to the highest quality and sets the standard for any future development on our site. Earlier this year, SODIC and Solidere International announced the details of Eastown and Westown, two mixed-use districts in New Cairo and on the CairoAlexandria highway. The two projects will be developed at an estimated investment cost of $1.6 billion and $2.4 billion respectively. They are being designed to become the urban hubs of New Cairo and Sixth of October cities. SODIC is Egypt's has grown its market capitalization over six fold, from under LE 750 million ($150 million) in 2006 to over LE 5 billion (nearly $1 billion) today. Solidere is a Lebanese joint stock company formed in 1994 to spearhead the reconstruction and development of Beirut city center.
