Leading regional contractors are working on a masive plan to build traditional townships across the Arab world that could involve investments of more than $200 billion, said a report, citing the Federation of Arab Contractors (FAC).

The “Madinat Al Arab” project, which was endorsed by FAC this month, envisions building towns in each of the 22 Arab League nations with funding from contractors, developers and private investors, FAC  chairman Fahd Al Hammadi told Zawya.

It is estimated that such projects would equate to $9.1 billion for each of the 22 mooted developments, Al Hammadi stated.

Each town would have 22 neighbourhoods, with the key ones named after the host country and streets bearing the name of its main cities.

The project would include residential buildings and towers, power and water facilities, hospitals, schools, restaurants, malls and bazaars as well as sports facilities, mosques and parks, he noted.

Earlier this month, Hammadi told the Saudi-owned Asharq Alawsat newspaper that Jordan, Sudan and Egypt had expressed willingness to allocate land for the project.