The Ministry of Housing has appealed against a court ruling that annulled a land sale between the Government and the country's largest publicly listed property developer on grounds it was not opened to public bidding, the opposition Al-Wafd newspaper reported Friday. Housing Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi has appealed against the ruling, which was issued by the Administrative Court on Tuesday as a result of a suit filed by businessman Hamdi el-Fakharani, who claimed the deal would result in 147 billion Egyptian pounds ($26.25 billion) in losses for the Government. The case is tied to a 13 square mile plot on which TMG is building its Madinaty project ��" an exclusive community which the company says will house 600,000 residents, the paper said. For its ruling, the court cited a Government committee report which stated that the deal was awarded by direct order and that the contract didn't adhere to laws requiring such deals to be open to public bidding, Al-Wafd added.
