A bolder private sector to emerge in 2020, minister

2020 signals the onset of a wider role to be played by Egypt’s private sector in development projects nationwide, according to minister of Housing Dr. Asem El-Gazar.

“ New Urban Communities Authority is setting up the country’s infrastructure and generatinga more alluring climate for foreign investments. The time has come for the private sector to take up more responsibility for building the country,” said El-Gazar to Osoul Misr Magazine.

There are myriad investment opportunities in the new urban communities, as the state has a plan for supporting all sectors, and the manufacturers in particular, he added.

With the aim of incentivizing citizens to come to new cities, NUCA is selling lands to manufacturers at prices covering only costs of installing utilities.

El-Gazar noted that NUCA is successfully working to initiate integrated development, a deliberate approach connecting the design, delivery and evaluation of programs across disciplines and sectors to produce an amplified lasting impact on people’s lives.

Developing the Upper-Egypt city of Naser, built over a highland in Assuit governorate, is cited as as an example of how governmental intervention often helps thenew urban cities ready themselves for a boomingreal estate and manufacturing, he explained.

“ We could never have now a city colder by 6 degrees than Assuit metropolis without building a 22.5km road linking Nasr city with the metropolis at a cost of EGP2.3bn,” said he.

Badr City could never have become as vibrant as it is now without building the New Administrative Capital nearby, he remarked.

Constructing a new urban community further afield with 10k residential units under the name of ‘ Gardens of the Capital’ is under way, he elaborated.