The New Urban Communities Authority’s (NUCA) planning and projects sector has facilitated the promulgation of ministerial approvals for the implementation of about 109 urban and service investment projects across 17 new cities in 2019, Invest-Gate reports.

Such developments are being established over a total area of 34 acres, along with the issuance of roughly 1,900 building permits on-site, providing almost 220,000 direct job opportunities. Effectively, the pumping of more local and foreign investment inflows as well as the advancement of new cities and urban spaces will be unequivocal, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem El Gazzar revealed in a ministerial statement on December 28.

In 2019, the sector had contributed to the provision of nearly 2,108 lands, neighboring various social housing projects nationwide and extending over merely 121 acres. Additionally, 2,359 parcels, stretching across more than 310 acres, have been allocated in the distinguished housing areas, together with 1,762 plots found within the state’s most distinguished housing areas, Vice President of NUCA’s Planning and Projects Sector Ragaa Fouad noted.

“This end result displays the efficacy and feasibility of the ministry’s newly-introduced direct land allocation system, which contributed to the proposal of 1,838 requests for a diverse range of mixed-use plots nationwide, 845 of which secured the go-ahead for land apportionment with a total area of about 6,991 acres,” Fouad explained.

Likewise, merely 2,068 plots, with a total area surpassing 250 acres, have been put forth to Egyptian expats in this sense, awaiting a new phase to be launched in the near future, which will consist of about 1,450 residential plots. This move, which will also involve 1,050 and 35 luxury housing units and fully-finished villas, respectively, is high on the government’s agenda as it significantly safeguards the local financial system for boosting the state’s foreign exchange reserves, she further stated.

For his part, Assistant Housing Minister for NUCA Waleed Abbas highlighted that the authority’s planning and projects sector had generally assisted the extension of 3,336 housing units within the JANNA luxury housing project, aside from 3,176 properties allotted as part of the Sakan Misr medium-income project.

Moreover, 480 distinguished housing units nationwide, 538 luxury residences in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), and 46 fully-finished villas in Marina El Alamein have been successfully provided, leaving out the apartments and villas launched in coordination with NUCA’s real estate marketing companies, the statement concluded.