A joint venture of Dubai-based Arabtec Construction and local SIAC Industrial Construction and Engineering has been awarded an estimated $153m contract to build two towers in Egypt.

The joint venture will build the Second Nile Towers in the Maadi suburb of Cairo. Both towers will be 22-stories high and the scheme will have a total built-up area of 105,000 square metres. The first tower will contain a 256-room Hilton hotel, while the second tower will contain residences and hotel apartments.

The client for the project is the Saudi Egyptian Construction Company (Secon), which is a joint-stock company founded by the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian governments.

The local Space Consultants is the consultant for the project and US-based Hill International will provide project management services.

In 2010, Arabtec was awarded an estimated AED195m ($53m) contract to build the Hanging Gardens project at Golf Porto Sokhana, a coastal resort overlooking the Red Sea in Egypt. The project will comprise six residential buildings with 726 apartments.

The Dubai-based contractor has also been shortlisted with two other contractors for the contract to build the estimated $770m Mall of Egypt at 6 October City outside Cairo.