Ever wonder what your favorite Egyptian real estate billionaires have been up to during the COVID-19 pandemic? Here’s a sneak peek into some of their latest projects.
Raouf Ghabbour
On March 1, multimillionaire and New City Housing and Development owner Raouf Ghabbour launched the first phase of his 120 feddan** ECO West project in 6th of October* city in Cairo during an event at the pyramids.
The EGP 2.5 billion (about $159 million) investment is a 3,800-unit project that Daily News Egypt reported would last four years as of the second half of this year.
“Eco West provides a smart modern design based on a European Japanese architecture that makes best use of its land areas,” said Rami Youssef, the company’s CEO. The goal is to provide integrated housing solutions to bridge the gap between consumer aspirations and financial capabilities for the country’s teeming youth population.
“Youth represents 60 percent of the population [in Egypt], leading to an increase in demand for residential units at reasonable prices, especially since the number of marriages is increasing, reaching 900,000 marriages annually,” he said. “We believe that Eco West is the ultimate solution to fulfill the demand of the ambitious Middle and Upper Middle classes, who make up about 35 percent of society.”
As of 2018, Forbes estimated Ghabbour net worth at $440 million.
Yasseen Mansour
On March 15, Palm Hills Developments (PHD) announced a partnership with Inspired Education Group to build its premium King’s School in Egypt under The Crown project.
The first King’s School in Egypt will be built in The Crown, with classes scheduled to begin in September 2022, Zawya reported. The Crown is uniquely located on a group of hills surrounding 6th of October city and spans an area of 190 feddan. The partnership will see Inspired construct three more premium schools in Egypt. The other locations will include Alexandria, New Cairo and Badya, where PHD has an existing footprint.
“Inspired and King’s School Group have some of the highest performing academic schools globally and we are pleased to be able to establish such schools in our Palm Hills Developments throughout Egypt to ensure the highest quality education for our communities,” Mansour said.
PHD is well-known for its integrated residential, commercial real estate and resort projects. At the same time, Inspired is globally renowned for building and running premium schools in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and Latin America.
Yasseen Mansour owns Mansour Group and chairs PHD. His estimated net worth is $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.
*6th of October is a city in the Giza Governorate, a satellite town in urban Cairo, Egypt, 32 kilometers outside the city.
**Feddan is an Egyptian measurement unit equivalent to 1.038 acres (0.42 ha).
