UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group mulls investing in Egypt’s new administrative capital

Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Group is considering expansion in Egypt’s new administrative capital, Timothy Earnest, group director of Al-Futtaim Malls, said on Monday.

Speaking in a press conference in Cairo, Earnest said the UAE group is studying expansions outside Egypt’s New Cairo district and among those sites under consideration was the new administrative capital.

Al-Futtaim inaugurated in 2013 one of its flagships in Egypt, Cairo Festival City, which spans more than 3 km2 at the gateway to New Cairo. The project offers villas and apartments, indoor-outdoor shopping, a club that combines the best of sports and luxury hospitality, together with a hotel, international schools, and automotive showrooms all set within a landscaped community.

Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, the real estate development and operations arm of Al-Futtaim, also announced on Monday that it is planning to pump new investments worth 2 billion Egyptian pounds ($128.1 million) to finance new expansions to Cairo Festival City.

The new expansion area, called Festival Avenue, will span over 42,000 square metres with leasable area of 22,000 square metres, according to the mall’s general manager Haitham Haggar.

Haggar told Amwal Al Ghad that the construction works of the project will be started by 2022 and it is set to open during the first quarter of 2023.

The new expansion plans is expected to create 1,500 new job opportunities during the construction phase, while the Cairo Festival mall is currently providing 5,000 direct job opportunities and about 14,000 indirect job opportunities, Haggar added.