Dubai firm to build 1m homes in Egypt

[CAIRO] Arabtec Holding, Dubai's largest listed construction firm, has agreed with the Egyptian army to build one million houses in a project worth 280 billion Egyptian pounds (S$50.9 billion), it said in a statement on Sunday.

The project, one of the biggest in the region, is seen as a boost to the country of 85 million people which has been struggling to attract tourists and foreign investors amid political turmoil, and saw its foreign reserves drop to a critical low last year.

It will cover 160 million square metres across 13 sites in Egypt for lower-income individuals. The company said that it expects work on the project to start in the third quarter of this year and be completed before 2020.