Press releases

SODIC Addresses Cairo's Over-Population with the Eastown/Westown Solution

SODIC, Solidere International and McKinsey & Company discuss Eastown and Westown as a key to unlocking the potential of east and west Cairo 

Cairo, Egypt-May 31, 2010-During a press conference held today, SODIC, a leading Egyptian real estate developer, Solidere International, the leading Lebanese developers, and Mckinsey & Company, the world-renowned management consultancy and research company, discussed the pressing problem of Cairo's over-population and their solutions to alleviate the issue through the development of two anchor city-centres to the east and west of Cairo.

"Cairo's population has grown to almost 20 million, yet the city was designed to accommodate 5 million. With the support of the government, Eastown and Westown will play a key role in helping alleviate overpopulation and related issues," stated Maher Maksoud, CEO of SODIC.

Eastown and Westown are two mixed use city centres developed by SODIC, in partnership with Solidere International, to offer residents a city lifestyle with residential, commercial and retail areas. They are comprehensively master-planned with high density and walkable city-centres.  Eastown is situated in Kattamaya/New Cairo in the east, while Westown is at the centre of Sheikh Zayed/Sixth of October City in the west. These two mega-projects will utilize an approximate combined 2,060,000 m² of land.

Speaking on their co-development agreement with SODIC for the Eastown/Westown projects, Mounib Hammoud, COO of Solidere International, stated "We have built up considerable expertise, know - how and have developed strategic relationships during our endeavour to rebuild Beirut's city centre. These assets are invaluable and we are tremendously excited to have the opportunity to showcase these skills in Cairo and help address some of the urban challenges."

"Despite the global economic climate, in 2009 Egypt's GDP grew at approximately 5%. This, coupled with a domestic consumption growth of 76.2% of GDP, declining interest rates, and declining inflation, has led to overall economic growth for the country, which has witnessed a growing middle-class with more purchasing power, capable of investing in various real estate offerings," said Maksoud. "There is also strong demand for purpose-built offices and an annual hotel room deficit of 22,000 in Cairo alone. For Eastown and Westown we took all of the above into consideration and focused our strategy on diversified offerings, with 30 percent of our projects allotted to residential purposes and 70 percent to retail or business properties."

David Cis, Junior Partner of the Rome McKinsey Office, agreed with the need for a prudent economic strategy when undertaking urban development. "Economic strategy is key, as consistency between job creation and population is fundamental to avoid many huge problems such as slums and urban poverty."

Cis, who spoke on urbanization and how to succeed in proper urban planning, explained that, in specific, "block by block" planning, similar to Eastown and Westown, "should consider a proper mix of different solutions not only low density new gated communities, but also walkable dense mixed use areas."

The land for Eastown/Westown is fully owned by SODIC and two neighbourhoods within Westown, Forty West and The Polygon Business Park, have already been launched. The two developments are fully funded with investments amounting to 500 million EGP in Forty West and 600 million EGP in The Polygon.

With an investment value of EGP 25 billion, Eastown and Westown mark the contemporary rebirth of master planned mixed-use city centres in Egypt. They are designed with the pedestrian experience and integrated planning model in mind, while meeting the demands of modernisation and contemporary lifestyles. These urban developments are on a scale that has not been seen in Cairo since the development of the Heliopolis suburb more than 100 years ago.