Emaar Properties' Egyptian subsidiary, Emaar Misr, will spend up to 6 billion Egyptian pounds ($861.91 million) on a residential and commercial project in Cairo after signing a protocol with Egypt's government, it said in a statement.

Emaar Square is part of its 4.5 million sq  m development called Uptown Cairo which will cost up to 12 billion pounds.

On Sunday, Emaar signed a protocol with the Egyptian Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Investment and the Cairo authorities in order to start work on Emaar Square.

The firm will begin work on Emaar Drive that will connect Uptown Cairo to key destinations in central and greater Cairo.

Egypt has struggled to attract foreign investors due to economic and political instability after the popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The army, prompted by mass protests, overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader Mohamed Mursi in July and the government launched a crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, sparking another wave of unrest in the country of 85 million.

But the army-backed interim government, supported by more than $12 billion in aid from Gulf Arab states, is pushing on with a political roadmap that will lead to presidential and parliamentary elections this year. - Reuters