Minister of Public Enterprise Sector Hisham Tawfik has announced plans to sell 182 public lands to the private sector, whereas the proceeds will be utilized to help restructure state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Reuters reports.

The sale will see the government change the plots’ zoning to make them viable for real estate, rather than industrial, use. The state will sell the land gradually to avoid oversaturating the market, which is already experiencing oversupply, Tawfik said during his keynote speech at the Investment for Africa Forum 2019, held in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) from November 22 to 23, under the patronage of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The ministry is working to get local permissions before it starts marketing these state-owned plots, he underlined, without providing further details on the lands’ locations or value.

According to Tawfik, this listing comes as part of the ministry’s program to either restructure loss-making firms or liquidate them if they are not profitable, namely those operating in the textile, chemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries, according to Reuters.

On the sidelines the conference, Tawfik also said that 22-25% of shares in Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development (HHD) will be offered on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) in the first quarter of 2020, according to a previous statement.

It is worth noting that several officials and dignitaries have signed 11 agreements, with investments estimated at USD 3 bn (EGP 48.5 bn), during the Investment for Africa Forum 2019, in a bid to “forge investment deals and make announcements of numerous megaprojects that will contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth in the African continent.”