Qatari Diar kicks off EGP 220 bn first phase of its Alam El Roum megacity + More Gulf money for Sahel

Sahel is changing fast — and it’s challenging to keep pace with the flurry of news from our Northern Coast. While Qatari Diar launches the EGP 220 bn first phase of its USD 29.7 bn Alam El Roum city, an unnamed Emirati investor is finalizing an agreement to develop a mixed-use tourism and urban project in Jefaira. Meanwhile, another group of unnamed Qatari investors is sizing up two North Coast developments worth nearly EGP 6 bn. The state electricity transmission company is deploying EGP 6.5 bn to build out substations to keep pace with the region’s rapidly expanding load demands.

Qatari Diar launched the first phase of its Alam El Roum development, with up to EGP 220 bn going into the 4 mn sqm phase, according to a cabinet statement. The phase will include around 1.4 mn sqm of built-up area, with initial deliveries targeted for 2030. The wider Alam El Roum development on the North Coast carries a total planned investment of USD 29.7 bn.

What the first EGP 220 bn buys: Phase one will include four hotels with more than 1k rooms, a marina with 50 yacht berths, around 195k sqm of artificial swimmable lagoons, and a 2-km beach and waterfront promenade. Around 85% of the phase will be left as open space, with the government expecting it to support around 30k direct and indirect jobs.

The master plan: The full 20.58-mn-sqm development stretches across 7.2 km of Mediterranean coastline and is planned as a year-round mixed-use city spanning residential, hospitality, commercial, healthcare, education, and entertainment uses. The current master plan features more than 3.5k hotel rooms, two marinas — including an international marina with 370 berths — and an 18-hole golf course.

There is more infrastructure in the mix: Qatari Diar CEO Hamad bin Talal Al Thani said the project will include a service freezone and sit near the high-speed electric railway, with US engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) leading the design alongside international partners (watch, runtime: 4:11).

REMEMBER- Alam El Roum was still moving through planning and early execution when we checked in last month. Qatari Diar had taken over the first phase of the land and appointed SOM and SWA Group to prepare the master plan after signing a USD 29.7 bn development agreement last November. Today’s launch puts a concrete investment ticket and delivery milestone on that first phase.

Qatari Diar is planning a much bigger Egypt footprint: The developer currently has around USD 7 bn invested in the country and expects that to rise to around USD 40 bn over the next 15 years, according to Al Thani.

Jefaira takes shape

The government tapped an unnamed Emirati investor to develop the 642-feddan Jefaira plot on the North Coast under a partnership deal valued at around EGP 135 bn, according to four unnamed officials. The investor was selected around two months ago and has already settled an EGP 100 mn reservation payment to secure the northwest North Coast site. The final contracts are still being drafted and are expected to be signed and announced before year-end. While officials declined to name the specific developer, they confirmed the transaction has been awarded and is moving toward execution.

The mechanics: The investor would settle the land value over six years while developing a tourism and hospitality project on the Mediterranean coast. The preliminary agreement is structured under a hybrid public-private partnership (PPP) model. Instead of an outright land exit, the transaction gives the government a 20-30% annual share of future project revenues, alongside a physical, in-kind allocation of completed hotel units once the development is operational.

We’ve heard this before: An official at the National Investment Bank (NIB) told us last January that the state lender was finalizing an agreement with an Emirati investor to develop Jefaira. At the time, the project was expected to generate EGP 275 bn in revenues over its lifespan. NIB took ownership of the 642-feddan parcel in 2023 under a presidential decree to settle outstanding state liabilities. NIB plans to use this partnership as a template for monetizing more of its property portfolio through development partnerships or outright sales.

IN CONTEXT- Jefaira would add another Gulf-backed development partnership to the North Coast. Egypt’s USD 35 bn Ras El Hekma agreement left the government with a 35% share of future project revenues. Meanwhile, its USD 29.7 bn Alam El Roum agreement with Qatari Diar similarly combines land consideration with a 15% revenue share — after the project reaches cost recovery — and in-kind residential allocations.

Qatari investors eye Sahel

Another group of unnamed Qatari investors is sizing up two North Coast developments of nearly EGP 6 bn, Al Borsa reports, citing Fathallah & Co. partner Ramy Fathalla, whose office averages three to four foreign company inquiries monthly to study local investment plays. The investors plan to deploy capital through joint ventures with established Egyptian companies rather than going solo — leveraging local regulatory and execution expertise to accelerate development timelines.

IN CONTEXT- We reported in December that Egypt expected to attract around USD 10 bn in Qatari investment by end-2026, combining sovereign and private capital. While the Qatari state is cutting the largest checks — led by Qatari Diar’s USD 29.7 bn Alam El Roum master concession — the private sector is playing a tactical role by taking smaller, high-velocity positions in mid-sized commercial and sporting assets.

Powering follows the buildout

The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) plans to invest an initial EGP 6.5 bn to build four 220 kV substations on the North Coast over the next two years, according to unnamed government officials. The new stations are meant to secure power for a wave of upcoming tourism and urban projects across the North Coast and New Alamein while improving grid reliability as local electricity demand spikes. The stations will help the grid keep pace with rapid load growth as developers transition the coastal strip from seasonal resorts into fully integrated cities.

More rooms, more load: Egypt is targeting a 40% expansion in the North Coast’s hotel capacity this year, aiming to bring total rooms to 7k from the current baseline of 5k keys across 42 hotels. Looking further out, the government wants to add 20k-30k rooms to the Mediterranean coast by 2030 as it pushes the area further toward a year-round tourism destination.

IN CONTEXT- The power investment tackles one of the infrastructure gaps we flagged in our Sahel deep dive last summer, when developers said Alamein and Ras El Hekma would need city-scale infrastructure to support year-round growth rather than individual resort-by-resort development.

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