Egypt’s developers moving to integrated towns, Orascom CEO says
Egypt’s real estate developers are increasingly moving from standalone residential projects to fully integrated towns combining housing, services, and workplaces, Hazem Helal, Orascom Development Holding CEO for O West, Makadi Heights, and Byoum said on Thursday.
Speaking at the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) UK Business Mission in London, Helal said developers now play a broader role in urban development.
“We never use the word ‘compound’ within Orascom. We do not build compounds; we build integrated towns,” he said.
He cited projects including El Gouna, Makadi Heights, and O West as examples of this approach.
Helal said O West was designed to prioritise early delivery of infrastructure such as schools and community services, alongside fully finished homes to support immediate settlement.
He said diversified revenue streams from hospitality, retail, education, and healthcare were important to the long-term sustainability of such developments.
Helal said Egypt’s real estate market remains heavily focused on high-income buyers, creating structural imbalances.
“There is stable demand, and there is growing demand, but there is also a problem. Around 200 developers are competing for the wealthiest 5 per cent of the population, while the middle class is increasingly underserved,” he said.
He said affordability challenges remain a key issue for the sector, despite government housing programmes targeting lower-income groups.
The discussion took place during the “Building Egypt’s Future Cities: Investment, Infrastructure, and Integrated Communities” Session, which brought together Housing Minister Randa El-Menshawy, Rory Brooke, Head of Economics at Savills, Osman Evren Arikan, Managing Director of Polaris International Industrial Parks, and Hazem Helal, Chief Executive Officer of O West, Makadi Heights and Bayoum at Orascom Development Holding (ODH), to examine the role of urban development, infrastructure investment and integrated communities in supporting Egypt’s long-term economic growth.