Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem El Gazzar said the volume of investments pumped into west Assiut’s Nasser City has reached EGP 7 bn during the last 18 months only, Invest-Gate reports.

In practice, “the state is not a real estate company, but rather an urban developer,” El Gazzar said during his keynote speech at the Future Cities of Egypt Forum on December 8.

The government has been pumping huge investments for stimulating urbanization and infrastructure development nationwide, thereby doubling the country’s urban areas from 7% to 14%, as part of the National Strategic Plan for Urban Development in Egypt 2052, El Gazzar explained.

Since the government aims to present citizens with basic services through the implementation of various residential, educational, medical, transportation, and other pilot development projects, a pool of investment opportunities is offered for boosting property developers’ and investors’ contribution to accelerating urban development, he added.

The state is also working to provide adequate housing for all income levels through the implementation of different low- and middle-income social housing projects, along with the national slum eradication program.

Besides, last month, the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund’s (SHMFF) board approved a set of proposed principles, determinants, and mechanisms related to the involvement of private developers in the establishment of Egyptian social housing projects, as part of the plans to strengthen social equality and improve the living standards of the population, the minister concluded.