Egypt’s Ora Developers and its Pakistani partners, the Saif Group and Kohistan Builders, plan to establish a multi-billion dollar housing project on the outskirts of Islamabad next month, Arab News reports.

Ora Developers, owned by billionaire Naguib Sawiris, is the project’s main investor, owning up to 60% of its shares.

“Mr. Sawiris is one of the world’s leading investors who always took a very positive view of Pakistan’s investment potential…[His] firms have successfully delivered similar real estate projects in Egypt and around the Middle East, though this is his first venture in Pakistan’s real estate sector,” Senator Usman Saifullah Khan, vice chairman of the Saifullah Group said.

The joint venture, “Project Eighteen” will cover 600 acres of land and is expected to cost around USD 2 bn. It will be delivered in phases starting this year, with delivery of the first phase expected in the next three years.

The project included the development of a five-star hotel of 150 rooms, 1,068 housing units, 921 residential apartments, 13 office buildings, business parks, hospitals, schools, and other educational facilities.

Khan said that the project would then be replicated in Lahore and Karachi by the beginning of 2019.

Success of “Project Eighteen” is likely to attract more investment in the country’s housing sector, which needs nearly 12 mn housing units at the cost of USD 180 bn.