Egypt is expected to increase urban development on 10,000 km of lands each three years in efforts to demolish slums and accommodate the rising Egyptian population that is expected to reach 160 million citizens by 2052, stated Fathallah Fawzy co-founder of MENA Group and former chairman of El Mostakbal Company for Urban Development at Cityscape’s Business Breakfast, Invest-Gate reports.

“The more we increase urban development the more we remove slum areas and avoid the construction of building violations that occurred massively in Alexandria” he added.

Fawzy has pointed out that the construction costs have increased around 50% to 70%; therefore, the selling price of units is expected to rise he told Invest-Gate. However, he expects that prices will stabilize in the second half of 2017 and that buyers will be accustomed to the new prices.

“ The demand on real estate has increased in the fourth quarter of 2016 due to the units that companies held in their personal inventories which mainly consists of average housing and high-end properties ranging in floor plans from 100 to 200 square meters, despite the slow demand that has occurred after the pound’s flotation , it is expected to rise also if the price of the dollar stabilizes” he told Invest-Gate.

Fawzy emphasized the importance of the presence of a strong collaboration between government and developers that will occur when the government provides more lands to developers of at least 10,000 acres or 15,000 acres.

“Through the government contribution by lands, it will be easy for developers to develop a great number of projects that will accommodate the rising population; developers will also be able to save costs on government since companies will market their own projects, construct facilities, and attract investments.