Egyptian real estate developers and the Ministry of Housing will meet by March-end to discuss the draft law of real estate development bill, which stipulates the establishment of a federation for property developers and set up a fund to hedge against sector-related risks, Invest-Gate reports.

Chairman of First Group Bashir Mostafa recently told Invest-Gate that this will mark the third meeting with all parties during the current year to discuss the draft law, with the last meeting held on February 18 at the headquarters of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, which would set up a state-sanctioned Egyptian Federation for Real Estate Developers.

Through this bill, real estate developers seek to balance the rights of all parties, namely the state, developers, and customers, while considering the needs of each party involved in this federation, Mostafa noted.

He revealed that meetings’ discussions cover several issues, particularly the classification of developers within the federation and the launch of escrow accounts for all projects being implemented by developers so that clients will deposit their down-payments and installments and then developers withdraw money from this account, pursuant to the implementation plan, which ensures the preservation of customer funds.

Once discussions are completed, the next step will be the submission of the draft law to the parliament for reviewing, during a meeting that will be attended by real estate developers to achieve consistency between the rights of both the state and developers. The executive regulation shall include the details of the law, Mostafa pointed out.

“The market is in urgent need for a classification of real estate developers according to the previous business record, financial solvency, and land bank, as well as, the company’s commitment to the dates of implementation and delivery, in addition to, previous budget and other factors that put each developer in the suitable category,” he elaborated. “The state shall grant the developer land based upon its category so that it can develop the space that commensurates with the financial and technical capabilities, and shall also benefit the client in ascertaining the developers s/he deals with,” the chairman concluded.