The Egyptian Resorts Company (ERC) has announced it is investing in a 47 villa project in Sahl Hasheesh, 20 km south of the city of Hurghada. Abu Bakr Makhlof, the commercial director at ERC, said the company has finalised the planning stage and is awaiting unit sales to start construction of the sea-front villa project. Jamaran, the Bedouin name for two moons, is expected to be finished in 2015, with an average unit size of 320 sq m. He said the units will be sold through an instalment plan over several years, adding: "the project has four different villa designs and their prices vary, depending on how close they are to the sea." "The estimated cost for the project is around EGP 50m while profits are expected to be EGP 100m," Makhlof said. The interest in purchasing units in this project, Makhlof said, is from both Egyptians and foreigners; however he mentioned that units are sold in US dollars and not Egyptian pounds. Makhlof added that around 15% of the 47 units (seven villas) have already been sold, while the remaining 40 villas are still awaiting buyers. "Several buyers told us that they are waiting for the Egyptian situation to stabilise so they can start purchasing units," he said. ERC acquired the 41m sq m Sahl Hasheesh land in 1995. Since then, the company has worked on several projects for the area's development including the Sawari Marina and the Old Town projects.
