Cairo – Mubasher: Talks between Egyptian officials and the Dubai-based Emaar Properties over the development of a 1,500-acre plot in the New Administrative Capital have stalled.
“The negotiations have stopped,” Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, head of the new capital’s company said in a phone interview to Bloomberg.
The Emirati real estate giant reportedly wanted to buy the land at a price below EGP 3,500 to EGP 4,000 ($195 to $223) per square metre that is “typically sought for the residential development”, Abdeen said.
For his part, Emaar’s regional CEO Mohamed El Dahan declined to comment.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Emaar Misr, Emaar’s unit in Egypt, said the “interest in the new administrative capital and other land offered by the government is ongoing. These are always subject to long-term negotiations and financial evaluation by all parties involved.”
Emaar’s participation had promised to significantly add to the multi-billion dollar venture overseen by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The venture involves transforming a 700 square-kilometre swathe of desert into a gleaming capital and business hub.
Abdeen’s comments come after the Shanghai-listed China Fortune Land Development Co. withdrew from a $20 billion development in the new capital.
The two-year talks between Egypt and the Chinese firm have gone nowhere over disagreements on how to share the project’s revenue.
