The Ministry of Housing is to finish discussing the initial drafts of partnership contracts with the private sector within two months, said Amin Abdel Moneim, the ministry's project officer of partnerships. The contracts were the subject of Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) which were signed during the Economic Summit held in March. The Ministry of Housing signed six MoUs with Al Arabia Company for Real Estate Development (Arco), to establish the South Marina project with investments of EGP 26bn. This is in addition to an alliance of Emirati Aabar Investments PJS and Egyptian Palm Hills Developments for the October Oasis project, with investments of EGP 150bn, on a land area of 10,000 acres. Another MoU was signed with an alliance of Arab companies working in the field of real estate development and British CBRE. This MoU referred to a tourism city project in the 6th of October over 557 acres, with investments worth $4bn, in addition to housing projects over 470 acres, with investments of $2.5bn. The ministry also signed MoUs with the Egyptian Mountain View and the Saudi Sisban Holding, with investments of $3.5bn for a tourism project of over 500 acres in New Cairo. Moreover, it signed a memorandum with Palm Hills for an urban project on a land area of 500 acres in New Cairo, with investments of $3.5bn. In a statement to Daily News Egypt, Abdel Moneim added that the technical committees of the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) prepared the initial draft of the contracts. These included the ministry's share in the project, according to the company's offer that was approved by the ministry, in addition to the period of implementation, the obligations of each party along all phases of execution and the mechanisms of dealing with revenues, on condition that the draft be revised by the legal department in the ministry. He added that Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly called on the authority's leaders to speed up communications with companies that signed the MoUs, as a prelude to signing the final contracts and activate the project by the beginning of the next fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016. Moreover, a report on the results the ministry reached regarding the projects it proposed during the Economic Summit should be submitted to the cabinet. Ministry of Housing sources said that Madbouly met with "Urban Communities" leaders last week to present drafts of six contracts of projects the ministry signed MoUs for during the summit. The sources added that the Ministry of Housing is racing against time to prepare the partnership contracts, which will be presented to the companies days before the minister announces them. This is likely to be within 10 days, once the final items are agreed upon by both the ministry and developers. On the other hand, the sources said that Emaar Misr for Development requested the ministry decide on the two offers made to develop two projects in Sheikh Zayed City. The ministry announced the two offers during the Economic Summit. The Ministry of Housing finished the technical evaluation of eight offers made by six real estate companies to compete for three projects in both cities of 6th of October and Sheikh Zayed.
