The Ministers of Defence, Investment and Local Development signed a protocol Sunday with Cairo governorate and Emaar Misr to start work on the Uptown Cairo project with EGP 18bn in investment. This announcement came during the economic ministerial committee meeting Monday, which was headed by Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi and attended by Governor of Central Bank of Egypt Hisham Ramez and the Ministers of Finance, Investment, Planning, Supply, Electricity, Petroleum, Housing and Agriculture, according to a cabinet statement. Uptown Cairo, a residential and commercial project located in Moqattam, rests on 4.5 million square metres overlooking the greater Cairo area. The project is expected to create 20,000 job opportunities, Minister of Investment Osama Saleh noted. Emaar Misr paid EGP 72m in return for "modify[ing] the conditions of the units affiliated to the armed forces in the project area", Mohamed El Dahan, CEO of Emaar Misr, told Al-Borsa newspaperTuesday. The company also spent EGP 60m to construct alternative military facilities in return for using the western part of the land of Uptown Cairo, El Dahan said. Amir El Sayed Ahmed, adviser for Ministery of Defence projects, described the project as a "model" of cooperation between the government and the private sector. "The project is expected to receive between 40 to 50 million visitors a year," he said. A total amount of EGP 3.5bn was spent on the infrastructure of Uptown Cairo, El Dahan said. The infrastructure part of the project included developing the drinking water station in Cairo, with a cost of EGP 150m, and the sanitation station in Mokattam, with a cost of EGP 30m. Emaar Drive, which is a part of the project, will be used to connect Uptown Cairo to 6th of October Bridge and the Ring Road to link the city to key destinations, according to the Uptown Cairo website. Emaar Misr will also spend EGP 8bn on a commercial and residential project next to Uptown Cairo called Emaar Square, El Dahan said. The project will include a commercial mall and it is expected to create 20,000 job opportunities. Dubai's Emaar properties reported on Monday a 48% increase in net profits during the fourth quarter of 2013 as a result of a real estate and tourism boost. The company registered a quarterly profit of AED 756m ($206m) compared to AED 512m in the same period in 2012. In 2013, Emaar sales in Dubai tripled to reach AED 12bn, according to Reuters.
