Egypt’s tourism minister left troubling situation

bikyamasr

Egypt’s former tourism minister, who was sentenced to five years in prison last week, has left a number of troubling business deals in his wake, including Porto Fayoum, a massive tourism development in a proposed world heritage site in Egypt’s Fayoum Oasis.

Mansour Amer of the Amer Group, who plans to build Porto Fayoum on 650 acres of pristine coast in Fayoum’s Lake Qarun protectorate, is also responsible for Porto Marina and Porto Sokhna, two huge tourism developments on Egypt’s North and Ain Sokhna coasts.

Former President Hosni Mubarak’s government sold Amer Group the land on Lake Qarun for only $28,000 ($.01 per square meter), according to Egypt’s American Chamber of Commerce.

Reports state that this is the first development of such massive proportions to be allowed in an Egyptian protected area.