Emaar Properties yesterday won a keenly contested Egyptian auction for 625 hectares of prime land on the Mediterranean coast worth $175 million.

The Dubai-based property giant beat Egypt’s Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD) and Talaat Mustafa Group, an Egyptian real estate investment firm, in the race to buy the seven-kilometre strip of tourism real estate, Egyptian government officials was quoted by news agencies yesterday.

An Emaar source in Dubai confirmed the deal.

According to reports, the prime development will include two five-star hotels, a marina, luxury golf course, shopping centres, a mosque, helipad and sports facilities. Emaar will spend a further $1.74 billion to develop the site, and estimated the project would be completed five years after receipt of the land.

Reports quoted Egypt’s Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin as saying that Emaar’s proposal for the land included plans for 4,023 hotel rooms in addition to more than 5,300 residential holiday units.

“The aim of the project at Sidi Abdel Rahman and Al Alamei is to develop the site to make it an all year round attraction for European and Arab tourists exploiting its moderate climate and beautiful shores,” said a statement by Egyptian government’s tourism company EGOTH, which conducted the auction.

EGOTH holds property of 22 hotels and two Nile cruisers of the most renowned hotels in Egypt spreading up from Luxor, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, Alex, Red Sea & North Coast with hotel capacity amounts to 5000 rooms approximately.

“The race to buy this prime land by two of the world’s leading developers, Emaar and Orascom, has been closely followed by the real estate and hospitality industry. Emaar’s latest Egyptian acquisition further consolidates its position in Egypt where it has launched projects worth several billion dollars over the past couple of years,” a property analyst said.

Posted: 08|6|06 at 2:12 pm. Filed under: Property News.