Real estate developers have until the end of the year to settle their reconciliation fees to regularize the status of their North Coast developments with the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) after a 30 June deadline was extended, Al Shorouk reports, citing unnamed sources in the know. Forty of the 90 companies a NUCA committee met with have paid the fee — equivalent to 5% of the initial value of the land — necessary to legalize their status, the sources said. Negotiations are expected to take place between the authority and the rest of the 400 real estate companies with developments along the Mediterranean coastline between Alexandria and Salloum — including top players such as Sodic, Emaar, and Palm Hills Developments. It remains unclear whether any of these companies have settled with NUCA. The payments follow a presidential directive last year to repurpose over 700 feddans in the West North Coast as part of the government’s strategy to spearhead development in the area.

SPEAKING OF THE WESTERN NORTH COAST- New Ras Al Hikma City along the North Coast is expected to span 50k feddans, Al Shorouk reports, citing unnamed Housing Ministry sources. The development of the city comes as part of the government’s shift from a decades-old policy of making land available for vacation home development to instead pushing a development strategy that pushes new, integrated cities.