With several major real estate and infrastructure projects announced during the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, contractors may find that the country becomes a lucrative market in the coming years.

The ministries of housing and transport took centre stage as they signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with some of the region’s biggest companies to develop Egypt’s ambitious infrastructure plans.

Although it is a positive move for the country’s construction sector, many announcements were simply MoUs and the next step will be pivotal as Egypt aims to turn these plans into a reality.

The new administrative capital city has dominated the headlines. Phase one will cost $45bn and stood out as a symbolic project that illustrated the government’s vision for Egypt’s future.

The feasibility of the capital city is questionable, nonetheless it set the scene for a number of real estate projects that were announced during the event. Most were residential and mixed-use developments in and around the Cairo area, a move that comes as no surprise with Egypt’s population growing at a rate of 2 per cent every year.

Just as the capital city served a symbolic purpose for the conference’s real estate announcements, the new Suez Canal Zone (SCZone) did the same for infrastructure and transport investments.

The new industrial and logistics zone is expected to draw billions of dollars-worth of investments, with the canal authority aiming to contribute to at least 9 per cent of all seaborne trade by 2030.

A $6bn deal was inked to develop two major ports that will serve as part of the new SCZone network, and with the geographic significance of the canal, this project may prove to be exactly what Egypt needs to diversify its stagnant economy.

Ambition and rhetoric were central to construction initiatives at the conference, but with the government amending land laws, procurement processes and easing investment regulations and, if Egypt can improve the security situation, many of these projects may materialise.