Emirates Heights, a touristic real estate developer, hosted a roundtable with representatives from the Egyptian press to clarify the company's position, after a series of protests against the company were triggered weeks ago, against the backdrop of late delivery of residential units in addition to a 30 per cent increase in units prices. Chairman of Emirates Heights, Samy Al-Qarieny told reporters that the company did not deliberate for the late delivery of residential units or increase prices without reason, attributing the delay and the price surge to what he called “compelling forces." The events of the 25 January revolution and the security breakdown that ensued were cited as the main reasons Al-Qarieny said. “we incurred losses of EGP 1 billion resulting from equipment being looted and the surge in the prices of construction materials. “Some of our clients do not understand the compelling circumstances that we have been through during the previous period," Samy added. Though, he noted that dissatisfied clients can refund their money at any time, in accordance with the law. “The number of dissatisfied clients is less than 80," Al-Qarieny said. The company has invested EGP 1.2 billion in the Emirates Heights project, with the total a projected to reach EGP 4.5 billion. Clients paid EGP 350 million, while the company injected EGP 850 million, Al-Qarieny said. The total number of residential units is 4,000 to be delivered over four phases, 50 per cent of which have been delivered. The company was accused for non-compliance and manipulation after a news report was released, which Al-Qarieny described as inaccurate, saying that the Emirates Heights project in the North Coast exists only on paper. Furthermore, the report questioned the legality of the land registration. As a result, the Egyptian military decided to suspend operations in the Emirates Heights project from 2007 to 2011 and embarked on reviewing land registration and ownership documents. Al-Qarieny stated that during the period of operations suspension, the company worked on improving the infrastructure, as permitted by Egyptian law in such situations. “We turned the Emirates Heights into a smart home compound by extending fibre triple play cables," Al-Qarieny stated. However, the value-added made to the project were not part of the original contractual agreement between the company and previous clients including those who paid upfront.
