UAE-based shopping mall developer Majid Al Futtaim has announced plans to develop a third city centre project in Egypt at an investment of over E£4 billion ($509 million).

A leading shopping mall, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East and North Africa, Majid Al Futtaim has laid the foundation for the new City Centre Almaza mall, its 14th in the City Centre network - the largest mall network across the Middle East.

A bricklaying ceremony was held on Sunday which was attended by Minister of Egypt Investment Ashraf Salman, Minister of Housing  Mostafa Madbouly as well as Majid Al Futtaim's senior executives including Alain Bejjani, the chief executive officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding and Abdalla El Nockrashy, Egypt country head for Majid Al Futtaim Properties.

During the event, a mock-up model of the mall was also showcased for the attendees.

Located in Cairo’s high-end suburb of Heliopolis on the north eastern quadrant of the junction between the Cairo-Suez Road and Nasr Road in Heliopolis, City Centre Almaza is expected to create 22,000 direct and 14,000 indirect job opportunities.

The mall, which is set to open by the first quarter of 2019, will feature 103,455 sq m of retail space offering more than 300 of the best international and local brands, and as well as 23 restaurants, 18 food court outlets and nine cafes.

In addition to housing a unique retail mix of the leading international and local brands, City Centre Almaza will include a 13,040-sq-m Carrefour, 16 state-of-the-art VOX cinema screens, a 1,800 sq m Magic Planet family entertainment centre and 4,000 parking spaces.

City Centre Almaza is one component of Majid Al Futtaim’s massive investment plan in Egypt worth E£23 billion ($2.9 million), which also encompasses the undergoing developments of another two shopping malls; Mall of Egypt and the expansion of City Centre Maadi.

In addition to this, the UAE retail pioneer is developing four neighbourhood centres in new residential cities in Cairo and four new shopping malls in greater Cairo.

"Majid Al Futtaim is a long-term investor in Egypt having made a significant investment in bringing unrivalled experiences to the country’s retail and leisure sectors since 1998," remarked Bejjani.

"Our commitment to Egypt’s long-term sustainable development means that we are immensely proud to begin work on City Centre Almaza and deliver on our ongoing support to Egypt as it moves towards becoming one of the world’s leading economies," he added.

"Being our second largest market after the UAE, Egypt’s importance to our business is reflected in the implementation of our E£23 billion investment. Through this sizable investment we continue to expand our operations and hire Egyptians in alignment with the government’s growth and development goals," he stated.

"We see great potential in the economy and with the support of the government we expect many successful years to come for the communities we serve as well as our business. Together we will create great moments for everyone, every day in Egypt," noted Bejjani.

On the new project, Salman said: "As we are moving ahead with Egypt’s economic reform process, it is important for us to identify and work with experienced, committed partners."

"With its massive investment plan that’s coupled with sizable job opportunity creation, Majid Al Futtaim is well positioned to play a significant role in the development of our country’s retail landscape and economy in general," stated the minister.

Majid Al Futtaim’s plan also includes expanding the network of Carrefour hypermarkets and supermarkets to 60 branches by end of 2019, and introducing the largest and first local VOX cinemas over the coming five years.

Upon completion, this investment plan will have created a sizeable 144,000 direct and indirect jobs by providing significant employment opportunities for Egyptians.-TradeArabia News Service