By Hamed Mahmoud
Eng. Ahmed Gamal, CEO of Arqa Developments Company, announced that the company achieved during the first half of 2021 about 75-80% of the sales target, explaining that “By the next month, the company will completely achieve the sales target, amounting to 40% of the total project”.
He added that the real estate sector has recently attracted many local and foreign investors, due to the continuous demand from Egypt, as Egypt needs at least one million housing units annually, and hence the sector feasibility.
‘The real estate sector is one of the most important investments that contribute to high rates of economic growth, and one of the highest to achieve return on investment, CEO Gamal said.
He added that the volume of sales of the Arqa project is estimated at about LE5.3 billion, and that the company is the first in the entire towers region of the New Administrative Capital to obtain a digging permit from last January, explaining that even because a real estate company did not obtain this permit.
“At time when many real estate developers scramble confirming to obtain a digging permit, the Arqa has since past January obtained a digging permit and now reached to the depth of 8 metres out of the 18 metres planned-digging level,” Gamal said.
He pointed out that the company plans to hand over the project in mid-2024, explaining that the company has funded the project in-advance payment during 2020, and is set to refund, during October 2021, the first installment of the project to the Administrative Capital For Urban Development; hence the Arqa’s financial solvency.
On the company’s expansion plan, the CEO spoke of An Arqa’s ambitious expansion plan, through which it aims to study the investment opportunities at the level of new cities. This plan, he noted, is in line with the state’s orientation towards expansion in the new cities and support of this sector through providing infrastructure and building licenses in new cities; including in the foremost New Administrative Capital and New Alamein City.
“The company will announce soon an ambitious plan for expansion in the real estate market during the coming period,” he said, explaining that Arqa is studying obtaining new projects in New Alamein City.
The CEO Gamal expected a rise in sales volumes during the second half of 2021, unless there is an increase in the housing unit prices, driven by the raw building materials.
“Our raw materials are iron, cement, bricks, sand, and finishing materials, and that by the way any increase in one of these materials pushes the real estate developers to increase unit prices to compensate the prices increase,” he said, adding that the company has raised the prices by about 15% since the beginning of the year.
He unveiled that the competition pushes the real estate developers to provide payment facilities without jeopardising their profit margins, pointing out that “The competition should not come at the expense of companies’ profits so that they can compete with the world giants and provide a product that could compete with the world advanced cities and be an interface for the state in its real estate revolution.
On the most regions that have feasible investment opportunities, he revealed out that Upper Egypt includes very huge investment opportunities, especially the Sohag, Assiut cities, so they will be the company’s investment destination during the coming period.
Asked whether the offer of housing units inside the New capital could lead to a recession, he said “Of course not … because the measures taken by the state to operate the New Capital and classify it as an (A) city, mean that any company that opens in the capital will be totally or partially exempt from taxes and customs as stipulated in the regulations and laws that will be issued will make the market more thirst for the production.
