Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem El Gazzar has met with a delegation from the World Bank (WB) and Egyptian real estate developers to discuss new mechanisms to involve the latter in the implementation of social housing projects, Invest-Gate reports.

The move is aimed at giving greater involvement for property developers to meet the needs of all citizens in the housing sector, through taking part in the execution of social housing projects and other developments being implemented by the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), El Gazzar said in an official statement on March 22.

The housing minister explained that putting forward land plots under the public-private partnership (PPP) system, reflects mutual trust between both parties and undoubtedly affirms the government’s awareness of the key role played by the private sector in pushing forward development in various fields, the statement added.

As per the proposed partnership, NUCA does not only offer the plots, but also provides payment facilities for the land, including payment with installments, and payment in cash or in kind, El Gazzar underlined.

For their part, real estate developers put forth some recommendations to help ease the process, including the development of commercial spaces at 12% of the project’s area, facilitating registration procedures for units and reducing registration fees, the establishment of joint housing communities comprising residential units for different categories – from social to luxury housing, build more units at lesser areas, in addition to that the selling process should be carried out through the government.