Emaar's Talks With Egypt Over New Capital City Project Stall

  • Negotiations stopped over disagreements on price: official
  • Egypt has struggled to attract foreign direct investment
Laborers plant trees along a main thoroughfare at the site of the new Cairo Administrative Capital.Photographer: Sima Diab/Bloomberg
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Talks between Egyptian officials and the Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC to develop a 1,500 acre (607 hectares) plot in the new administrative capital have stalled, underscoring the country’s struggle to involve top-tier foreign companies in the mega project.

“The negotiations have stopped,” Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, who heads the company created to oversee the construction of the city, said in a phone interview. The Emirati company wanted to buy the land at a price below the 3,500-4,000 Egyptian pounds ($223) per square meter typically sought for the residential developments in the project, he said.