UAE’s Arabtec says no progress on mega Egypt housing project

United Arab Emirates-based builder Arabtec on Wednesday denied a media report that it would only develop the first phase of a project in Egypt to build one million homes.

The company announced more than a year ago that it had agreed in principle with the Egyptian government to build one million homes in the country, but it has been seeking since then to finalise the deal.

“There is no progress regarding the housing project in Egypt and therefore the company denies the news referred to above,” Arabtec said in a bourse statement on Wednesday. It did not specify the source of the report to which it was referring.

Egyptian officials have said the entire project would cost around 280bn Egyptian pounds ($35.8bn). Arabtec said in April that the first phase would involve building 100,000 homes.

Arabtec’s size and restructuring at the company over the past year has led some analysts to question whether Arabtec has the resources to deliver all one million homes by a 2020 deadline.