The programme will sell and distribute some 5,000 plots of land to Egyptian expats. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities has launched the second stage of its “Nation House" programme which will sell and distribute land to Egyptians living abroad throughout the coming year. Khaled Abbas, logistics aid to the minister of housing, said that the amount of land up for discussion included nearly 5,000 plots of land in five cities which took part in the programme's first stage, which saw the sale of 7,685 plots of land. He added that the second stage would begin once the country's political and economic situation stabilised, either after the upcoming parliamentary elections for Egypt's House of Representatives, or later during the second half of the year. Lands from the first stage of the programme are set to be distributed in December 2013. The cities that took part in the programme's first stage included New Cairo, Sheikh Zayed, and 6th of October, in addition to coastal cities such as New Damietta which would be used to construct farmhouse chalets. The ministry said that it has received a large number of requests from Egyptians living abroad to purchase land, particularly from those who were unable to acquire plots close to Cairo during the programme's first stage. The ministry also said that more than 12,000 people had recently visited the programme's website and had reserved over 7,000 plots of land. They further reported that only a few plots of land remained in New Damietta and New Minya, and would be sold before the deadline for making reservations was closed at the end of this February. Abbas said that the size of plots available in New Cairo and Sheikh Zayed would be between 700 and 800 metres, between 350 and 700 metres in New Minya, and between 350 and 400 metres in the city of Badr. He added that decreasing the size of plots available in the programme's future stages would increase turnout and provide buyers with more options. Plots distributed in the programme's first stage totalled between 350 and 800 metres in the cities of Cairo, Sheikh Zayed, Badr, New Damietta and New Minya. The ministry also decided to lower the cost of its booking providers from 35% to 25% of the price of the land purchased, extending the payment grace period from three to five years after purchase, and providing a 15% discount on any fees made in addition to the initial payment for the plot. Buyers would also be allowed to build a garage and three additional stories on all plots purchased. The ministry has offered tours of the plots available in order to advertise the project amongst Egyptians working abroad. Tariq Wafiq, minister of housing and urban communities, and Al-Morsi Hegazy, Egypt's finance minister, both suggested selling the land at rates where the price of the dollar matched EGP 6.1. This decision will be discussed by Egypt's Cabinet within the next several days.
