The investment budget of the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) has grown from EGP 5 bn for 2013/2014 to EGP 6 bn at the end of 2014 to EGP 37 bn for 2016, according to Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Mostafa Madbouly speaking at a conference held by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt on Sunday dubbed “Sustaining the Real Estate Industry in Egypt”.

NUCA’s total revenues registered approximately EGP 40 bn in 2016, primarily from sales of the authority’s sizeable land bank, whereby Madbouly stated that, upon taking up his post as minister, it was his mission to ensure that the authority reach its full potential.

His statements nonetheless come amid repeated calls from developers and private sector investors, including Orascom Development Holding’s Samih Sawiris and Sodic’s Magued Sherif, to offer lands at cheaper prices in order to address the housing gap at the lower end of the economic scale.