Egypt firm to build $411 mln housing project in Sudan

June 12, 2008 (CAIRO) — Cairo-based Mena Touristic and Real Estate Investment MENA.CA will build a housing complex in the Sudanese capital Khartoum under a contract with a local property company, Mena said on Thursday.

The housing units, which include detached villas and apartment buildings, would have a sale value of 2.2 billion pounds ($411 million), a company official said.

Its Sudanese partner is Hayy al-Mal Real Estate Development, which owns the 141,000 square metres (35 acres) of land for the complex in what is planned to be a new financial district for Khartoum, he said.

Mena will have a 69 percent stake in the project, with Hayy al-Mal owning the remaining 31 percent, he added.

Mena will raise the money for the project from its own resources and from advances on the housing units. It has no immediate plans to borrow from banks, the official said.

Work on the project should start in early 2009 and it will take five years to complete, he said.

Mena has completed a separate 411,000 square metres housing project in the Soba district of southern Khartoum called Al Yasmine Residence.

(Reuters)