Since long before the time of the pharaohs, Egypt’s location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Africa made the country a natural commercial hub for some of the world’s busiest and most lucrative trading routes. Now, thanks to growing domestic stability, an improvement in long-term economic prospects and the recent détente across the Middle East, Egypt is poised to re-establish its position as a major global player.
Egypt’s re-emergence has as much to do with demographic forces as geopolitical ones. Not only is the country’s population growing at an annual rate of 1.94%, adding approximately two million new citizens to its number each year, but around 60% of all Egyptians are under the age of 30. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. As in many neighboring Middle East states, the challenge is for the country’s public and private sectors to find the means of feeding such a rapidly growing population, but also to meet their career and living requirements as well.
Which is where the opportunities come in. “There is very strong demand for residential property right now,” says Pioneers Properties CEO Waleed Mohammed Zaki. “The private sector alone has orders for 900,000 units on its books a year.”
With government backing, even more ambitious and longer-term initiatives are underway to address the housing issue while simultaneously meeting the need to generate employment opportunities. Driven by a surge in public-private partnerships and several eco-friendly, high-end infrastructure initiatives, at least $50 billion has been committed to a wide array of mega projects destined to transform Egypt’s social and industrial landscape over the coming decades.
These range from a network of concentrated solar power (CSP) and nuclear power plants to several brand-new conurbations designed to accommodate the country’s expanding workforce. One of these is the Egyptian capital’s New Cairo, a satellite city of 270 square-miles that is fast becoming a blueprint for similar developments across the continent. “We have become something of a role model,” says Khaled Abbas, chairman of New Cairo’s owners and developers, the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD). “What we’re doing is cutting edge and there is a great deal of international interest to see if others can follow our example.”
Thanks to its pivotal location and the significant growth in the strength and depth of its skilled labor pool, Egypt is steadily securing its position as a manufacturing hub for multinationals looking for a springboar
