Talks on Emaar project in Egypt stalled

cairo — Talks between Egyptian officials and Emaar Properties to develop a 1,500-acre plot in the new administrative capital have stalled, underscoring the country’s struggle to involve toptier foreign companies in the mega project.

“The negotiations have stopped,” Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, who heads the company created to oversee the construction of the city, said. The Emirati company wanted to buy the land at a price below the 3,500-4,000 Egyptian pounds ($223) per square meter typically sought for the residential developments in the project, he said.

The participation by Emaar had promised to add lustre to the multi-billion dollar venture overseen by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Egypt’s plan involves transforming a 700 square-kilometre swath of desert into a gleaming capital and business hub, replete with gardens, lakes and the kind of order that has eluded Cairo and its roughly 20 million residents.

Abdeen’s remarks come after Shanghai-listed China Fortune Land Development Co pulled out from a $20 billion development in the new capital. Egyptian officials said the two sides had disagreed over how to share revenue.

A spokesman for Emaar Misr, the company’s Egypt unit, 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.”