T.H.E. Architects, Planners, & Civil Engineers Inc. signed nine contracts for preparing designs and supervising the nine housing, medical, educational, and industrial projects. The company furthermore decided to postpone the initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in the stock exchange until 2019. Tarik Fathy, founding partner at T.H.E., told Daily News Egypt that the company signed a contract with Cleopatra Hospital Group to take over the general advisory role for the group to develop four hospitals owned by Cleopatra. He added that the company finished designs for the second phase of Shifaa-Orman hospital in Luxor for treating cancer patients free of charge, at a construction cost of EGP 200m. Orman Association has offered a public tender for the implementation of the construction works and six companies applied: the Arab Contractors, Redcon Construction, Conserv Company, Gec General & Electromechanical Company, and El Nemr General Contracting Group. The implementation of the construction works will be assigned to the winning company at the beginning of next month. He pointed out that the implementation of the second phase of the project will take six months, starting from the date of the beginning of the implementation works. The phase includes four operation rooms, a services centre, a binoculars and dialysis unit, and 23 intensive care beds, alongside 120 residency beds. He announced that the company is also taking over the implementation of engineering drawing and designs a building annexed to the hospital on an area of 25,000sqm. The construction costs reached EGP 250m, while the implementation period will take 18 to 24 months from the beginning of the implementation works. T.H.E. signed two contracts for designing two universities, the University of "Bentah" in Borg Al-Arab for Upscale Egypt Company on an area of 30 feddans (31.14 acres), as part of a project for implementing an integrated dormitory on a total area of 125 feddans (129.7 acres). The University comprises 10 faculties, service buildings, administrative, and recreational areas. The second is "Hyaah" university in the fifth settlement, which will be implemented for the benefit of a real estate development company on an area of 18 feddans (18.68 acres). It includes seven colleges in different specialties and a football field. Fathy said that the company is overseeing the commercial and administrative project "Arabia" in the fifth compound next to Al Rehab City, working for Arabia Real Estate Investment Co., which owns and implements the project with investments amounting to EGP 150m. The foundation works of the project are completed, and the completion of the concrete works is underway. The project will be delivered mid 2018. He pointed out that the company is responsible for supervising the implementation of the west park residential project in 6th of October City, as part of a contract with the Egyptian Arab Company for reconstruction, on an area of 15,000sqm with investments of EGP 150m. The company has prepared designs and engineering drawings, and the project is to be ready for delivery in the beginning of 2018. The company also completed the preparation of engineering drawings and licenses for an administrative and commercial mall, the mall will include four floors: the 1st is commercial and the 2nd is administrative, while the 3rd and 4th floors are for garages. He pointed to the signing of a contract with German company Siemens to take over the engineering consulting role for railway control signal buildings on the Banha-Port Said road at a length of 214km. The project for the electrification of railway signals is implemented by three international companies: Siemens for the Banha-Port Said line, Thales Group on the Cairo-Alexandria line at 208km length, and Alstom on the Beni Suef-Assiut line at 250km length. He explained that the project targets to improve the security levels on trains and to enhance the operating efficiency on the network until supplying all lines with the latest signalling systems. Fathi said that T.H.E. postponed offering its stocks on the stock market until 2019, until it feels an improvement in the economic conditions in the market. He pointed out that they signed a contract with a government agency to take over the consulting of the children's hospital project in Sohag city, on an area of five feddans (5.189 acres), with a construction cost of up to EGP 200m. He added that T.H.E. will complete the preparation of the project's design in April, and it also supervises the establishment of the hospital, noting that the construction period will last up to 12 months. The company has completed the architectural designing of the Luxor cancer hospital and other related buildings in Upper Egypt, while the project includes a number of consultancy offices: Engineering consulting corporation (Essam Kassem), Shaker Consultancy Group, Hands on Project Management, and the Arab Contractors. T.H.E. also completed the designs of 65 housing buildings in 10th of Ramadan City, on an area of 12,000sqm, in a contract for Tenth of Ramadan for Construction, Marketing and Real Estate Investment, with the construction works having already started. Additionally, the company is working on preparing the designs of two factories for Egyptian businesspeople. The first is an aluminium accessories factory, located in 10th of Ramadan City, the second is a food industry factory, located in 6th of October City. The company will supervise the establishment of the two factories after completion of the designs. T.H.E. also took over the preparation of engineering designs and supervision of the construction of Badr University of Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development Company. The project consists of three construction phases. Furthermore, it has completed the design and supervision of a number of projects for Egyptian ministries and international entities, most notably the Egyptian Diplomatic Club and River Club in Giza for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in addition to the restoration of the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. The company has signed a contract for cooperation with a number of foreign consultancy firms to exchange information and experience, including English, Scottish, French, German, Saudi, and US offices. Fathi said that the real estate market has witnessed unjustified price hikes of land, whether owned by individuals or the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) since the liberation of the exchange rate, creating an obstacle for investment. He added that the real estate investment companies have tended in the last three months to enter in partnerships to implement their projects, so as to overcome the shortages and high prices of land. Fathi called for using vacant lands in New Cairo, especially in the fifth settlement, noting that only 30% of the lands in this area are used, while the rest of the lands are owned by individuals who have not developed it, while other lands owned by NUCA have not been posed for sale yet. He explained that the real estate developers recently have moved their projects, such as Shorouk and Mostakbal, to other areas, especially to the available spaces near the New Administrative Capital, due to the low land prices compared to the fifth settlement, which used to be the first choice for investors over the last years. Fathi pointed out that the government should speed up the issuance of the unified investment law and amend the laws which negatively affect investors, since the Egyptian market is one of the best markets in which investors could achieve high profits compared to other countries. He said that the Value-Added Tax Law has added an administrative burden on consulting offices, as it increased the amount of paper work that has to be undertaken by companies to collect fees from their clients. It also affected the final consumer, because the land prices have increased by the same value as the tax.
