Orascom says to build budget housing in Turkey

CAIRO, March 8 (Reuters) - Orascom Development Holding said on Sunday it had agreed with the Turkish government to build low- and middle-income housing in Turkey.

Orascom did not give details of the project in a statement on Egypt's stock exchange website, but Egyptian daily Al Mal said it would develop a 7.5 million square metre plot in Ankara and a 5.5 million square metre project in Istanbul.

Revenue from the project could be between $800 million and $900 million, the paper said, citing Chief Executive Samih Sawiris, without giving a timeframe.

Orascom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sawiris told Reuters in May, 2008 he was looking to build budget housing towns outside of Egypt to diversify the company's revenue.

Budget housing would account for 10 percent of the company's revenue by 2011, up from almost nothing in 2008, he said at the time.