Abraj Misr eyes 500mn Egyptian pound-loan for its eco-friendly project

Egyptian developer Abraj Misr is seeking a loan worth 500 million Egyptian pounds (US$62 million) arranged by one of the major state-owned banks.

The loan will be one of the funding mechanisms to be used in order to implement Abraj Misr’s first and largest residential, administrative, smart and eco-friendly project, which is dubbed as ‘The Gate’.

Abraj Misr is in its final stage of negotiations to obtain the loan, an official source from the company told Amwal Al Ghad Monday. The company is expected to reach a loan agreement within the current November at maximum, the source added.

About the Gate project, it is a 450,000-square-metre, multi-use complex, set to sprout along Al Nozha Street in the city’s Heliopolis district. It will house a thousand smart apartments—including a host of sky villas, spanning nine levels (each outfitted with multi-sensors used to detect motion and adjust temperature and lighting; three floors of office space; a three-story shopping mall; and four tiers of underground parking.

Featuring gill-like facades intended to serve as sunshades, the eco-conscious building was designed by Paris-based firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures, whose deep-green, neo-futuristic works also include Agora Garden, a warped, plant-covered tower set to debut in Taipei in 2016, on top of a slew of wild designs echoing natural organic forms such as lilypads, orchids, coral reefs, and dragonflies.

The site also enjoys strong connections to Cairo Airport and main Cairo arteries.

Abraj Misr plans to start carrying out the project by the beginning of 2016, over three years, with investment cost worth 4.5 billion pounds.