2018 plan for offering new lands to be announced in March: Min.

CAIRO - 4 February 2018: The 2018 plan for offering new lands will be announced in March, said Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Sunday.

Madbouly also told an investment forum that his ministry is currently working on finalizing procedures to allocate 13 plots of land that had been recently floated.

He said that Egypt has unprecedented opportunities in the urban development field.

"As its population is about to hit 100 million, the country is considered a numerous market in the fields of real estate and urban development," the minister said in a speech before the 3rd Egypt Investment Forum.

The state seeks to increase the size of urban areas to 12% by 2050 to absorb the growing population, he noted, citing giant projects in new cities which are served by a network of roads and utilities.

He lauded investment opportunities in Egypt, saying it enjoys the largest return on investment in the region.

The housing minister also hailed as huge start the establishment of new cities in the country including social and medium-income housing units.

The private sector sees also more lands offered for investment, Madbouly told the forum.

He estimated investments with private sector developers in urban and real estate projects at LE 350 billion.

The minister asserted that the Egyptian market is large and there is an enormous demand.

"There is a big gap in the real estate sector," he said, citing 14 new cities being set up including the new administrative capital