Emaar's Talks With Egypt Over New Capital City Project Stall - Bloomberg

Emaar's Talks With Egypt Over New Capital City Project Stall - Bloomberg:

Talks between Egyptian officials and the Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC to develop a 1,500 acre (607 hectares) plot in the new administrative capital have stalled, underscoring the country’s struggle to involve top-tier 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 in a phone interview. 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, the developer of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Dubai, had promised to add a luster to the multi-billion dollar venture overseen by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Egypt’s plan involves transforming a 700 square-kilometer 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.