Qatari firm to invest $29.7 billion in Egypt coastal development

AFP | Doha

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A real estate arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund said Thursday it will invest $29.7 billion in a tourism and residential development project on Egypt’s northern coast -- as the country seeks investments to boost a faltering economy.

Egypt, mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, is betting big on its 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) of coastline as a revenue source.

The project in the Alam alRoum area, in Egypt’s Matrouh Governorate, will span “4,900 acres... extending across a coastline of 7.2 kilometres of the pristine Mediterranean shoreline”, a statement from the Qatari Diar company said.

It will include luxury residences and tourism facilities including a marina and golf courses, the statement said.

The investment marks a further step in the warming of ties between the two countries after a low point when Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain imposed a three-year diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar beginning in 2017.

They demanded Doha cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and its sister organisation Hamas, and downgrade relations with Iran.

In 2024 the UAE said it would inject $35 billion in foreign direct investment into Egypt, including $24 billion that would go to developing the Ras al-Hikma area west of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.