The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) aims to reach EGP 26bn in expenditures by the end of the third quarter (Q3) of 2014, according to NUCA Vice President Magdy Farahat. Farahat added in the "Builders of Egypt Forum" on Wednesday, that the amount of the authority's Q1 business amounted to EGP 13bn.The business represented some new projects in the administrative and commercial sector, in addition to residential properties. Farahat pointed to the success of the authority in solving 12 investment problems by a committee, which it formed with the Ministry of Housing. He went on to give examples of the resolved investment problems including Maadi Heights, Lake Side, Sodic, Saudi Rehab, Al-Futtaim, "which was recently approved by the cabinet", in addition to Raju Havre project. The forum is the biggest event in the contracting and construction sector in Egypt, occurring under the sponsorship of Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb on 25 and 26 November. The forum is organised by the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors (EFCBC) in cooperation with the "Excellent Communication" company. Hassan Abdel Aziz, CEO of EFCBC, confirmed the contract system culture needs a comprehensive change. He said the EFCBC has approved a balanced contract model to resolve the problem of the construction sector in conjunction with a Ministry of Housing committee. It is yet to be approved by the People's Assembly or Shura Council. "We have already submitted this contract model and the Regulations to the law of tenders and auctions to Ibrahim Mehleb while he was Ministry of Housing. Mehleb ratified the model of the contract and we waiting for president approval," said Abdel Aziz. Vice President of Urban Communities for Planning Amin Abdel Moneim announced the delivery of over 200,000 housing units of the social housing project, carried out by several private sector companies. "The New Urban Communities Authority aimed to focus on middle class housing through the activation of the housing project average number of 150,000 housing units. The authority presented 30,000 housing units in three new cities as a first phase of the project," said Abdel Moneim. Deputy Minister of Housing Affairs Kamal Fahmy said a total of 30,000 housing units out of the one million housing units project are set for delivery by the end of December. This comes after the increasing of funds for the authority's plan up to EGP 14bn during the fiscal year (FY) 2014-2015. Fahmy said that there is no final agreement with the UAE-based partner, Arabtec, on the project so far. During the forum the construction contractors' financing problems with some banks were discussed. Chairman of the Board of Banque du Caire, Mounir El-Zahid, said that the financial solvency of the companies and their ability to pump investments are essential to obtaining finance from banks. El-Zahid called for a common framework of understanding between banks and construction companies to provide funding in accordance with the global credit rules followed by the banks. He stressed that banks are required to provide financial consulting for companies that do not have the financial solvency to obtain financing. United Bank Chairman Mohammed Ashmawy demanded EFCBC make a survey of all tripped construction companies and remove them from tripping and ban deal list. This step will give them the opportunity to re deal with banks and obtain finance. Vice Chairman of Director of the Audi bank Mohammad Abbas Fayed said that the infrastructure sector in Egypt needs much development. He added that the banks are willing to finance all projects. The Saudi-Egyptian Business Council called for resolving the problems of troubled Saudi companies in Egypt, and ending disputes between these companies and the Egyptian government. The council announced there are a number of Saudi companies which have suffered from problems during the last period with the Egyptian government. These problems came either due to disputes over land, or due to the return of Saudi-bought factories to the state, as happened in the Omar Effendi crisis.
