Are these the Gulf firms that will redevelop the former NDP HQ? A consortium of Saudi Egyptian Developers (SED) and the UAE’s Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) Group is set to work on the USD 5 bn r e development of the site of the former National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters in central Cairo, Asharq Business reports, citing three sources it says are in the know. SED and ASGC will buy into the two JVs set up for the project through a capital increase, one of the sources said.

We’ve been waiting to hear who the Gulf partners are: The government last month ordered the transfer of the 16.6k square-meter plot from the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s (SFE) tourism sub-fund to two companies, Nilus Hotel and Commercial Services and Nilus Residential Services. The firms appear to be newly established vehicles for the NDP redevelopment project and count two of the sub-fund’s directors and its CEO on their boards. Local media reported at the time that unnamed Emirati investors would also form part of the two JVs.

We suspected these two were in the running: SED and ASGC were among four consortiums reported to have submitted bids in a tender for the project launched by the SFE last year. SED is a partnership between the Saudi and Egyptian governments that invests largely in local real estate. ASGC is a Dubai-based contractor owned by the Al Shafar Group.

What’s next: The winning consortium will be officially announced within “a few” weeks, one source is quoted as telling Asharq. The companies involved are still negotiating with the SFE on the planned height of high-rise hotels to be built as part of the redevelopment, as well as the amount of USD revenue that the developers will be required to pay to the state under the usufruct agreement for the land.

The project: The redevelopment plans will see around USD 5 bn invested in a 7-star, 220-meter high hotel, residential buildings, and a multi-storey garage with capacity of up to 6k cars, local media previously quoted SFE tourism sub-fund chair Elhamy El Zayat as saying. The project is set to take some six years to complete and could break ground later this year, he added. It comes as part of a wider plan to redevelop old buildings in central Cairo and make the area more attractive for investment.

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