Cityscape Next Move Wednesday has held a preparatory session breakfast meeting for its real-estate expo that will be held 28- 31 March. The breakfast was inaugurated by Governor of Cairo Ossama Kamal and attended by representatives from the ministries of housing and investment beside a number of renowned real-estate developers in Egypt and abroad. In his opening speech Kamal said: “We have lots of opportunities for investment in Cairo but I ask you to widen your perspective and look into investment opportunities in other governorates, like Giza.” Kamal outlined Cairo's investment potential in tourism and industry, highlighting a number of projects available with land secured for use under Build Operate Transfer (BOT) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) models. “We have a 17 acres of land for building a traffic accessories factory, we have also three facilities in Capritage Helwan on a 25 acre site that is currently in a bad shape but could be developed into therapeutic resorts and spas thanks to the phosphate rich water. There is also Helwan Big Garden which has the same kind of water,” said the governor. The governor also talked about recycling projects that will be put forward in cooperation with the Ministry Of Environment. Two sites have been dedicated to this purpose; 700 acres near Belbess and 1400 acres in Katameya. A further 250 acres of land in Fostat overlooking Ein Elseera lake has been earmarked for therapy purposes or spas. On the housing projects, Kamal highlighted 40 acres in Moqattam's central plateau divided into four equal areas ready to be developed. Assistant housing minister Khaled abbas said: “After the revolution there was a transitional period where the Housing Communities Authority handled clients' requests, but after the election of Morsy there is a new era and the ministry is working on solving all the pending problems.” He added that the real-estate sector is strong and is always in demand, saying demand exceeds supply by 400,000 housing units annually. Ahmed ElSayad, responsible for “mega projects" in the General Authority for Investments (GAFI), gave a speech on behalf of the investment ministry saying that real-estate investment is an integrated societal investment because it responds to social needs. He noted that there are four housing projects on the agenda of the ministry aiming to create townships in Ain Sokhna, Al-Alamein, East Port-Said and Souhag. ElSayad stated that the Canal Suez projects are a priority for the government adding that the time is suitable now for real-estate development. Offering advice to businessmen, he said: “Projects have to start from bottom up and no one will get his business done simply by knowing the right person. This time is over.”
