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The changing face of community

11 December 2023

Swiss-Egyptian property group Orascom Development Holding has been on a transformative journey over the past three years in response to global pressures on its core markets and areas of activity.

Operating in seven countries – Egypt, Morocco, Oman, the UAE, Montenegro, Switzerland and the UK – the group develops mixed-use communities that combine residential units with social infrastructure and amenities – and, more recently, commercial office space.

It also owns 33 hotels with a total of 7,000 keys that it either self-manages or allows a third party to manage, and holds a landbank of 100 million square metres across the seven countries, of which two-thirds is yet to be developed.

Orascom Development’s model revolves around developing out-of-town locations that provide a sense of departure from urban life while remaining within reach of major cities.

Historically, much of this was keyed into second home ownership, but more recently, and particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting global attitudes to work and travel have driven the group to reorient itself to new realities.

Group CEO Omar El Hamamsy notes that at the height of the pandemic, the black swan event resulted in diverging effects on the group’s hotel and real estate businesses. While travel restrictions led to a downturn in its hotel business, the real estate business experienced an unexpected surge in demand.

Much of this surge was driven by people seeking an escape from urban environments, which boosted the appeal of the group’s lifestyle-oriented out-of-town developments. Consumer mindsets also shifted from viewing such properties as second homes to viewing them as prospective primary residences.

As El Hamamsy explains: “The purpose of those towns historically was for them to be second homes. Over time, that model has morphed into: ‘Well, hey, especially after the pandemic, should these places and towns be your primary home in the first place? Why wouldn’t you live in the Swiss Alps, an hour and a half away from Zurich, or an hour or two hours away from Milan, if you can do that?’”

This shift has created demand for commercial space within existing communities, such as at El Gouna (pictured below), the community established by the group on Egypt’s Red Sea coast near Hurghada in the ’90s.

This has led, notes El Hamamsy, into “the creation of co-working spaces – so in El Gouna, we have something called G Valley, which is our little Silicon Valley, to which we’ve attracted a whole bunch of startups. Now a bunch of digital nomads startups come in and they use those co-working spaces.”

Divesting peripherals

The group is also pivoting towards leaner operations and away from the development model it followed in the past, in which it ran everything from utilities and infrastructure to services and amenities such as schools, hospitals, marinas and leisure facilities, including even one ski resort.

El Hamamsy notes the group’s need to stay focused on its core competencies and profit centres and to disentangle itself from operational aspects. 

“As part of our growth strategy, we recognise the need to transition from owning and operating everything,” he says. “This move is geared towards achieving profitable growth, enhancing customer experiences, and unlocking the stored value in our assets.

“The model over the past 30 years was incredibly capital intensive – putting a lot of money into cement and steel, into pipes underground, into schools and hospitals – so at some point, we needed to become more asset-light.

“The next step, and the one we’re doing now, is actually returning dividends to our shareholders through some de-assetisation – unlocking some of that stored value and returning it.”

In the past three years, the group’s strategic realignment has led it to post 2022 revenues that were 77 per cent higher than in 2020 and 52 per cent higher than the 2019 baseline.

Gross profit then nearly tripled from 2020 to 2022, while a 10-year net profit loss has become a two-year winning streak in 2021 and 2022, according to El Hamamsy.

There are positive projections for profitability in 2023, too.

Optimising integration

Moving forward, while all of the group’s communities are still being developed with a similar furnishing of facilities as before, a key difference is that operational partners are being brought on board from the beginning – convinced by the group’s now multinational, multi-decade track record of development.

One community under active development along these new lines is O West, a masterplan in Egypt’s 6th October City, about 40 minutes west of Cairo’s downtown.

Here, as El Hamamsy notes: “Now we’re at the maturity level where we can get out of owning and operating everything. We don’t need to generate our own electricity or do our own landscaping, necessarily. We don’t need to operate schools. In O West, we have brought in three operators for the schools, and that’s working great for us.

“And in the extension of our hospitals and wellbeing experiences, we’re bringing in third parties who specialise in certain types of wellbeing to actually build their own infrastructure and operate their own infrastructure.

“Our role, ultimately, is to curate, just like a museum curator – to say: this is the right experience for that community at this point in time.”

The group’s communities are also being designed to accommodate a broad demographic, including by incorporating affordable housing into their masterplans to ensure the entire working population can live there.

El Hamamsy emphasises the distinction between the group’s holistic approach and that of other residential developments, which – while integrating a range of different facilities and spaces – often lack functionality as fully-fledged communities.

Orascom Development’s level of community integration, on the other hand, even extends to its ownership of the El Gouna Football Club, which now sits in the Egyptian Premier League, based out of its El Gouna development.

It similarly owns an ice hockey team in connection with its community in Andermatt, Switzerland.

The group also undergirds sports and cultural events, such as the Ironman 70.3 Salalah, which centres on its Hawana Salalah community, and the El Gouna Film Festival.

And the communities keep coming. In 2022, Orascom Development welcomed residents into its first community in the UK – a lakeside village in Cornwall, while the first phase of O West in Cairo was delivered in 2023.

Despite the inflationary pressure in Egypt, the real estate market remains vibrant, according to El Hamamsy, who notes: “The opportunities in Egypt, given its low asset prices post-devaluation and favourable demographics, make it an appealing prospect for serious investors.”

Looking ahead, Orascom Development is also in the early stages of developing a major new community in Chbika in southwestern Morocco, and at Al-Sawda Island, off the southern coast of Oman – both just parts of the huge land bank that the group is yet to develop into its singular vision of urban planning.

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John Bambridge

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    5 November 2025

     

    Bahrain’s construction and transport sector has struggled to stay afloat in recent years, with the total value of awarded contracts falling for the third consecutive year.

    According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, only about $400m-worth of contracts had been awarded in Bahrain by the end of October – less than half the $1.2bn recorded during the same period last year.

    The sector has yet to return to its pre-pandemic levels. Before 2020, Bahrain consistently awarded more than $2bn in contracts annually, peaking at nearly $4bn in 2016, when the contract to build a new terminal at Bahrain International airport was awarded.

    Contract awards

    The largest contract award this year is an estimated $77m agreement between Bahrain’s Ministry of Works and local construction firm Haji Hassan Group to expand the Budaiya Highway project.

    Another major deal, valued at about $50m, was awarded to local firm Nass Contracting for the second phase of the Muharraq Ring Road.

    All other contracts awarded so far this year have been below the $50m mark. These include a $40m contract awarded to local firm United Marine Trading for the construction of a superyacht marina.

    Other contracts include the $38m Tilal Residential Development awarded to Manama-based Ahmed Omar Group, and a $35m contract awarded to RP Construction for a mixed-use project in the second phase of Edamah’s Saadah development.

    Future prospects

    Several large-scale real estate schemes form the bulk of Bahrain’s $5bn pipeline of upcoming construction projects. These include five reclaimed islands, the largest of which is Fasht Al-Jarim – a 183-square-kilometre mixed-use hub that will host a new airport alongside residential, logistics and tourism zones.

    Tendering is also ongoing for several real estate-related schemes.

    In September, consultants submitted bids for a tender covering contract management and site supervision for 1,269 villas in East Sitra. The project represents the second phase of the East Sitra social housing development.

    In October, firms submitted bids for infrastructure works covering 477 residential plots in Block 589 of Madinat Salman Island 10. The project is being developed by Bahrain’s Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning.

    Bid evaluation has also reached advanced stages for a tender covering the construction of 507 villas in Madinat Al-Hidd – Villages A2 and A3. 

    While the real estate sector is expected to provide much-needed short-term momentum, it is longer-term infrastructure schemes that will underpin sustained growth in Bahrain’s construction and transport market in the coming years.

    Transport projects

    Long-term projects expected to generate market opportunities include the Bahrain Metro scheme, for which the client prequalified several consortiums in 2023 to bid for the main contract.

    Another major infrastructure scheme expected to advance soon is the second causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In 2023, selected construction firms submitted feedback questionnaires and met with the King Fahd Causeway Authority regarding the estimated $3.5bn crossing.

    The project involves constructing a 25-kilometre road-and-rail crossing connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. 

    The second causeway involves building a 25-kilometre road and rail crossing that will link Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. It will follow the same alignment as the existing King Fahd Causeway.

    Progress is also being made on the Qatar-Bahrain causeway project. Last year, Qatar and Bahrain agreed to restructure the board of directors for the estimated $4bn scheme.

    The decision followed a November 2023 meeting between officials from both countries, where they agreed to restart the project.

    The project was put on hold in 2010 and effectively cancelled during the Gulf diplomatic dispute in 2017. The restoration of diplomatic ties between Bahrain and Qatar has revived prospects for the project to move forward.

    The proposed causeway is a key component of the GCC rail network. After years of slow progress, work on the regional rail scheme has recently accelerated, with design activities advancing on several cross-border links.

    In the short term, tendering is expected to begin shortly for the widening and upgrading of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Highway project, after US-based Parsons Corporation was awarded a $1.4m contract to provide pre-contract engineering consultancy services.

    The contract for package four of the Busaiteen Link Road scheme is also expected to be finalised soon, after local firm Haji Hassan Group submitted the lowest bid, valued at $277m.

    The package includes the construction of a signature bridge connecting Muharraq to the North Manama Causeway and Bahrain Bay.

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  • Bahrain remains in pursuit of hydrocarbon resources

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    Bahrain, which holds relatively modest hydrocarbon reserves compared with its Gulf peers, has been consistently seeking additional resources to boost its oil and gas production.

    The country made a major step towards this goal in 2018, announcing the discovery of the Khalij Al-Bahrain offshore hydrocarbons basin, estimated to contain 80 billion barrels of oil and 10-20 trillion cubic feet of gas. Nearly seven years later, however, Manama is not known to have made any notable progress in commercially appraising that resource base.

    The state-owned enterprise Bapco Energies has therefore devised a multi-pronged strategy to secure Bahrain’s energy future. Its first objective, according to group CEO Mark Thomas, is to maintain current oil and gas output levels.

    “Objective number one is to stabilise oil and gas production from the existing reservoirs at the Awali field and stem the decline. These are very mature reservoirs, which, without intervention, will decline quite quickly,” Thomas told MEED in an interview earlier this year.

    Bahrain’s primary oil and gas production comes from the Awali field, where the Gulf’s first oil discovery was made in 1932. Bapco Upstream, a subsidiary of Bapco Energies, is the sole operator of this onshore field, also known as the Bahrain field. The field produces an average of 42,400 barrels a day (b/d) of crude oil and 1.67 billion cubic feet a day of non-associated gas.

    In addition, Bapco Energies draws in about half of the 300,000 b/d output from the Abu Safah offshore field, which Bahrain shares with Saudi Arabia.

    “Objective number two is to develop new opportunities,” Thomas said, adding: “We’ve been looking at appraising pre-Unayzah gas from the Al-Jawf and Al-Juba reservoirs,” which Bapco Energies announced discovering in 2022.

    “These are deep gas reservoirs, so we call them unconventional. They’re tight rock, need to be fracked and require the drilling of horizontal wells for production. We’ve gone through an appraisal programme on that. We’ll start a development programme in 2025 around those [discoveries],” Thomas said at the time.

    Exploration campaign

    In March, Bapco Energies announced an agreement with US-based EOG Resources to “evaluate a promising gas exploration prospect” in the country, without specifying its location.

    Later in the year, Bahrain’s Oil & Environment Ministry signed a concession agreement with Bapco Energies and EOG Resources to explore potential hydrocarbon resources.

    Under the contract, EOG Resources Bahrain Awali – the company’s local subsidiary – will work with Bapco Energies to explore, appraise and develop oil and gas reserves in Bahrain. Bapco Energies has not disclosed the nature, terms or scope of activities under the concession agreement.

    Thomas had told MEED that Bapco Energies was advancing a “large three-dimensional (3D) seismic programme” to search for offshore hydrocarbon resources. 

    “We’re running an extensive campaign covering about 4,500 square kilometres of surface area, where we will be shooting 3D seismic. That is basically around the entirety of [Bahrain]. We will carry on through 2025 and into 2026.

    “We hope to be able to identify some structures and then invite companies to come, share the information with them and hopefully do some exploration drilling,” he added. 

    “It’s logical that there will be [a licensing round in the future], assuming that we are successful with the 3D seismic and can identify some structures. But it needs to wait until we have some quality data. 

    “This has always been the hindrance for us in attracting international oil companies to come to Bahrain,” he noted. “The quality of the data that we had for offshore was not good and, quite frankly, for a company entering a new country, the risk was too high.”

    Italian energy producer Eni has been the only international company evaluating exploration and production opportunities in Bahrain in recent years.

    “By using the latest technology with 3D seismic seabed nodes, and by shooting deeper, we will absolutely have the best data that we can. And, if there are structures offshore, we will definitely find them,” Thomas told MEED.

    Despite an oil production capacity of only about 205,000 b/d, Bahrain holds a key seat in the Opec+ coalition. Bapco Energies aims to maintain, if not increase, its oil and gas production levels through capital expenditure on projects.

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  • Mergers loom over Bahrain’s banking system

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    The memorandum of understanding signed between National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) on 2 November, advancing talks towards a formal merger, provides a welcome boost to a banking sector that has felt the headwinds of Bahrain’s challenging economic situation.

    Building scale is a key ambition for Bahraini banks, and recent merger activity has helped local lenders find synergies, sometimes through acquisition from non-Bahraini peers. 

    The Kuwait Finance House (KFH) acquisition of Ahli United Bank (AUB) in October 2022 helped forge one of the Gulf’s largest players. The local Al-Salam Bank completed the acquisition of the consumer banking business of Ithmaar Bank that year, building one of the island’s largest sharia-compliant lenders.

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    This looming combination would have heft in a banking system marked by a large number of institutions (83 in total in September).

    A joint statement from the two banks said that should the merger proceed, it “has the potential to create a stronger, more dynamic and forward-looking entity with enhanced scale, agility, and capabilities”.

    Market adjustment

    The likely outcome of a stronger bank with a higher market share is a positive for Bahrain. And yet, given the banks’ continued exposure to a sovereign with weak finances and an overreliance on oil revenues, the simple fact of merging does not override existing challenges. 

    Although Manama boasts some of the Gulf’s longest-established banking institutions, these are still subject to a rating environment reflective of a country with a debt-to-GDP ratio forecast to rise to 136% in 2026, according to Fitch Ratings. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain around 9% of GDP through 2026, driven by high interest costs and reliance on oil revenue.

    This has real-world impacts on the banking system. In April 2025, Fitch revised Bahrain’s outlook to negative, noting that while it benefits from strong financial support from GCC partners, the ratings agency identified low foreign reserves and high external debt as posing significant risks.  

    By way of illustration, NBB’s main exposure is to the Bahraini sovereign (at BD1.8bn – $4.8bn – or 3.3x common equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital, at end-2024), mostly in the form of debt securities, but also in lending to the government and Treasury bills. NBB is also exposed to the sovereign through lending to quasi-government entities, notes Fitch.

    Fitch-rated Bahraini banks are constrained by the sovereign rating of ‘B+’ or capped by Bahrain’s country ceiling. “Despite this, these banks’ standalone financial profiles and metrics in particular compare well with some higher-rated GCC peers,” says Amin Sakhri, director, Financial Institutions for Fitch Ratings.

    “We see a lot of common features in relation to the operating environment to the rest of the GCC,” says Sakhri. “Bahrain is highly dependent on government spending, and highly dependent on oil prices. But the difference is that, in the case of Bahrain, the sovereign rating is lower, which leads to a less dynamic operating environment – particularly in terms of the ability of the sovereign to stimulate the economy relative to other GCC banking sectors.”

    Sustained asset strength

    Although this has a detrimental effect on the operating environment relative to other countries, Bahraini banks have sufficient armoury to protect themselves from sovereign-linked fiscal challenges.

    “Looking at the metrics, capital buffers have remained fairly sound in 2025 and the performance has also been stable relative to 2024, so there’s nothing to cause concern. One of the key strengths of the banking sector remains capitalisation levels,” says Sakhri.

    According to the analyst, banks such as NBB and BBK are showing strong capital buffers, comparing favourably with GCC peers, and asset quality metrics are not necessarily weaker than at banks in the banking sectors of Qatar (BB operating environment), the UAE (BBB+) or Saudi Arabia (BBB+).

    Another source of comfort is that two out of the five Fitch-rated Bahraini banks are very little exposed to the domestic operating environment and their ratings are not constrained by Bahrain’s sovereign rating. 

    The financial sector remains a prop of the Bahraini economy. Central Bank of Bahrain governor Khalid Humaidan told a meeting of regional bank governors in mid-October that financial services was the largest sectoral contributor to the national economy, accounting for 17% of GDP.

    Humaidan also noted that digital advancements are helping to enhance credit access and support small businesses.

    “Projects are being deployed by the Bahraini government, albeit at a more modest level than in other places in the GCC, given the sovereign’s weaker financial flexibility,” says Sakhri.

    While credit growth is well below the high rates seen in some neighbouring economies, analysts see room for a respectable performance.

    “A lending growth of about 5%-6% next year for the sector can be expected, despite the weaker operating environment score relative to other GCC countries,” says Sakhri. 

    One new lending opportunity may come through a government plan to boost housing. The  Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning launched a new financing option, Tasheel+, earlier this year, in collaboration with local banks. Lenders will provide financing, while the ministry will cover government support payments directly to the banks.

    The CBB is also looking to burnish its reputation as a leading regulator, having established the region’s first fintech sandbox as far back as mid-2017. It has recently developed a new framework for stablecoins. More recently, the CBB announced the launch of an SME Fund, after a strategic agreement between Bahrain Development Bank, NBB, BBK and Al-Salam Bank.

    These initiatives, combined with recent M&A moves, should give added impetus to a banking sector that is looking to exert a more dynamic impact on the local and regional economy.

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  • Emaar launches Terra Gardens project in Expo City

    5 November 2025

    Dubai-based real estate developer Emaar Properties has launched the Terra Gardens residential project in partnership with Dubai World Trade Centre at Expo City Dubai.

    The development will offer 560 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses.

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    The development is part of the Expo Living masterplan, which spans 451,295 square metres. The masterplan comprises five residential communities with a total of 3,555 residential units.

    Terra Gardens follows the launch last month of Emaar Hills, a new masterplanned community adjacent to Dubai Hills Estate.

    Emaar Hills will offer more than 40,000 residential units.

    It will include a limited collection of mansions ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 square feet.

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    Emaar has also purchased a land bank in the Ras Al-Khor area adjacent to its Dubai Creek Harbour masterplan, as disclosed in its H1 2025 financial report. Emaar plans to launch another masterplanned community on that plot in the near future.

    Emaar’s latest project launch reflects increased activity in the UAE real estate market, which has led major developers to report record revenues in recent years. 

    Dubai Financial Market‑listed Emaar Properties reported a net profit of AED7.1bn ($1.9bn) in H1 2025, a 33% increase compared with the same period last year.

    The developer's revenues surged to AED19.8bn in the first half of this year, which is a 38% increase from H1 2024.

    Emaar said that this was driven by “robust performance across development, retail, hospitality and international operations".

    Emaar has sold inventory worth AED46bn in H1 2025, which is 46% higher than the same period last year.

    UK-based data analytics firm GlobalData predicts the UAE construction sector to grow by 4.2% in real terms in 2025, driven by infrastructure, energy, utilities and residential construction projects. It is also estimated that projects worth more than $323bn are in the execution or planning stages in the UAE.

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    5 November 2025

     

    The UAE’s Etihad Rail is expected to finalise the contract by next month to build the 40-kilometre West Link project, which will connect the Abu Dhabi mainland to islands in the Gulf near Qatar.

    “The early contractor involvement (ECI) bid evaluation is in advanced stages, and the decision is expected in a few weeks,” sources close to the project told MEED.

    In June, MEED reported that the UAE had engaged two contracting groups on an ECI basis for the project.

    The two contracting groups selected are: Greece’s Archirodon partnering with local Western Bainoona Group (with Hewson Consulting as design firm), and Beijing-based China Harbour Engineering Corporation partnering with local NMDC (with Subana Jurong as design firm).

    The project involves constructing a 40km road link with two lanes in each direction. The road is planned to start near Ras Ghumais in the Western Region and extend to a ferry terminal on Makasib Island, which will then connect to Qatar.

    The ECI process requires selected contractors to submit methodologies for the project and a design proposal during the initial stages of procurement. It is understood that the conceptual design and social, economic and business case studies commenced early last year.

    The project is being overseen by the UAE’s Etihad Rail.

    Previous plans

    In 2005, Abu Dhabi and Doha were reported to have been setting up a joint company to oversee the implementation of a proposed UAE-Qatar causeway.

    The crossing would have significantly cut journey times. At present, traffic between Qatar and the UAE has to pass through 125km of Saudi Arabian territory.

    Back then, the causeway was planned to start near Sila in Abu Dhabi and extend to the south of Doha.

    The scheme ultimately stalled. Problems included difficulties with the route, which infringed on Saudi Arabia’s territorial waters.

    In June 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, preventing any potential joint infrastructure projects.

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