The announcement comes as the company witnesses strong performance at its Alexandria and Maadi City Centres, following the recent unrest in the country.

The two shopping smalls attract more than 26m visitors annually, and represent an investment to date by MAF Properties of $421m

MAF Properties opened its first mall in Egypt in 2002. Maadi City Centre offers 31,000m² of Gross Leasing Area (GLA) and has 80 retailers.

The company then opened Alexandria City Centre in 2009, which accommodates 164 retailers over 61,000m² of GLA. The two malls created more than 3,000 permanent jobs.

MAF Properties is planning to add 340,000m² of GLA to its existing portfolio, leading with its development of the Mall of Egypt.

The fully-designed shopping mall will cover 400,000m² and offer a GLA of 160,800m². It is expected to provide more than 9,000 jobs during construction and another 7,000 permanent ones when opened for business in 2014.

Besides Mall of Egypt, the expansion of Maadi City Centre and the development of two more shopping malls are currently in the planning phase.

MAF Properties’ development programme is expected to generate a total of 19,000 jobs in construction and 13,000 permanent jobs when the malls open over the next five to seven years.

“By developing leading shopping malls, not only do we bring in the top international brands and enhance the lifestyle of the people, we also develop prominent tourist destinations, create thousands of jobs, and contribute significantly to the value of the surrounding real estate,” said MAF Properties CEO Peter Walichnowski.

Source: CW Press Release.