Al Futtaim to build $9bn Cairo complex

 

Dubai developer Al Futtaim Group will develop a $9 billion (Dh33 billion) complex near Cairo including villas, a shopping centre and a luxury hotel, local media reported on Tuesday.

 

The 3 million-square-metre Cairo Festival City, 20 kilometres southeast of greater Cairo, will include a three-level shopping centre, over 85 restaurants, a luxury hotel, and 480 villas.

 

Al Futtaim, a UAE group with interests from property development to retail, would complete the project in 2011, it was reported.

 

Al Futtaim is building a similar $15 billion (Dh55 billion) project in Dubai, called Dubai Festival City, with shops, offices, apartments, and hotels.

 

Gulf property developers, including UAE-based Damac Holding and Dubai's Emaar Properties are spending billions of dollars to buy and develop real estate in Egypt, the most populous Arab country.

 

Foreign investment helped Egypt's economy grow 7.1 per cent last fiscal year, its fastest in at least two decades. (Reuters)