Khaled Abbas, deputy minister of housing, utilities, and urban communities for national projects, has stated that the ministry is planning to establish 1.1 mn residential units during the upcoming five years, Invest-Gate reports.

This was announced during the sixth International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction on April 4 at the American University in Cairo (AUC), in the presence of Swiss Ambassador to Cairo Paul Garnier, CEO of Lord Norman Foster Hussein Mansi, and more than 1,500 guests from Egypt as well as 52 other countries, including experts, researchers, and architects, according to a statement released by LafargeHolcim Foundation.

Abbas also added that new urban communities became one of the pillars of economic growth in Egypt and that sustainability is a top priority in Egypt’s Vision 2030.

The forum’s keynote speakers focused on how the building and construction industries can adapt to become leaner with a smaller ecological footprint, in addition to discussing solutions for sustainability and smaller ecological footprints.

Chairman of LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction Roland Köhler noted, “Our group has been present in Egypt since 1864 when we provided more than 200,000 tons of building materials for the construction of the Suez Canal. Today, Lafarge Egypt participates in many mega national projects.”

On his part, Lafarge Egypt CEO Hussein Mansi said, “Building sustainability is not only a global trend, but locally we have held several meetings with the Ministry of Housing due to their interest in implementing the sustainability concepts to achieve environmental balance within the new communities that are being developed. “