View source for Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company

{{Short description|Real estate company in Egypt}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development SAE
| logo = [[Image:Helio-2.jpg|350px|Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company certificate]]
| former_name = Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company
| type = [[Public company|Publicly listed company]]
| traded_as = HELI.CA
| foundation = February 2, 1906
| founder = [[Baron Empain|Édouard Empain]]<br/>Boghos Nubar Pasha<br/>and 22 other individuals and companies
| location_country = [[Egypt]]
| location =
| key_people = Mohamed El Shahwy <small>([[Chairman|Chairman of the Board]])</small>
| industry = Real estate development
| services = Till December 31, 1991:<ref name="Company Profile">{{cite web|url=http://www.heliopoliscompany.com/images/heliopoliscompanyprofile.pdf |title=Company Profile |accessdate=2008-03-10 |format=pdf |pages=01 |language=Arabic |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009081002/http://www.heliopoliscompany.com/images/heliopoliscompanyprofile.pdf |archivedate=2007-10-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br /> [[Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)|Heliopolis’]] [[tram]] management. <br /> Utilities management for [[Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)|Heliopolis]]. (ie: water, power, roads...)
| owner = Holding Company for Construction and Development (72%)
| num_employees = 933<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heliopoliscompany.com/images/heliopoliscompanyprofile.pdf |title=Company Profile |accessdate=2008-03-10 |format=pdf |pages=14 |language=Arabic |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009081002/http://www.heliopoliscompany.com/images/heliopoliscompanyprofile.pdf |archivedate=2007-10-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| homepage = [http://www.heliopoliscompany.com HeliopolisCompany.com]
| footnotes =
}}
The '''Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company''' ({{langx|ar|شركة سكك حديد مصر الكهربائية  و واحات عين شمس}}) was formed in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] in 1906 to develop a 25 square kilometer plot of land into the [[Heliopolis, Cairo|Heliopolis]] suburb. It was nationalised in 1960, and remained a [[List of state-owned enterprises in Egypt|state-owned enterprise]] until it was [[Initial public offering|listed]] on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (now the [[Egyptian Exchange]], or EGX) in 1995 and renamed the '''Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development''' ({{langx|ar|شركة مصر الجديدة للإسكان و التعمير}}).<ref name="Company Profile" />
== History ==
On May 20, 1905, the Egyptian government signed a concession to develop a large desert plot of 25 square kilometres north-east of Cairo, with [[Belgium|Belgian]] industrialist  [[Édouard Empain]] and Boghos Nubar Pasha, son of the former Egyptian Prime Minister [[Nubar Pasha]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oasis Company |url=https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monuments;AWE;eg;2;en |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=MWNF - Sharing History}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The '''Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company''' itself was established by the two entrepreneurs and 22 other investors and companies on February 14, 1906<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1906-02-24 |title=High order of the Khedive of Egypt |journal=The Official Gazette}}</ref> as a [[Real estate developer|property development company]] to build the '''[[Heliopolis, Cairo|Heliopolis Oasis]]''' near where the [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|ancient city of Heliopolis]] once stood.
The new suburb was planned with rail and tramway links to the centre of Cairo, and consisted of plots for villas, [[Heliopolis style]] apartment blocks, [[Company town|workers' housing]], the Heliopolis Palace Hotel (converted later into a [[Egyptian Presidential Palace|presidential palace]]), [[restaurant]]s, [[retailing|shop]]s, [[church (building)|church]]es, [[mosque]]s, a [[synagogue]], and [[hospital]]s.
In 1955, the company was instructed by the government according to Law 123/1955, to prepare 1,500 400m<sup>2</sup> plots of land in five new neighbourhoods on its desert concession to be sold at LE1.45 per square meter primarily to government employees or members of housing cooperatives approved by the Cairo municipality.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Shawkat |first=Yahia |title=Egypt's Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space |publisher=AUC Press |year=2020 |location=Cairo and New York |pages=128}}</ref>
The post-independence [[History of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser|socialist government of Gamal Abdel Nasser]] [[Nationalization|nationalised]] the company in 1961, turning it into the public '''Masr al-Gadida Suburb Organisation''' (Arabic:مؤسسة ضاحية مصر الجديدة) and affiliated to the Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs, taking on the real estate development business.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=1960 |title=Law 285/1960 |url=https://manshurat.org/node/35287 |journal=The Official Gazette}}</ref> By 1964 the company was renamed as the '''Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development''' ({{langx|ar|شركة مصر الجديدة للإسكان و التعمير}}).
As part of the [[International Monetary Fund]] and [[World Bank]]'s Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Programme,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abdel-Khalek |first=Gouda |date=2001 |title=Stabilization and Adjustment in Egypt: Reform or De-Industrialization? |url=https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/stabilization-and-adjustment-in-egypt-9781840646207.html |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=www.e-elgar.com |language=en}}</ref> or ERSAP, the company was part of a [[Privatization|privatisation]] programme and was listed in 1996 on the [[Egyptian Exchange]] and has the Reuters code of [https://english.mubasher.info/markets/EGX/stocks/HELI HELI.CA].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Built Environment Observatory |date=2022-09-04 |title=Fact Sheet: Heliopolis Housing and Development |url=https://marsadomran.info/en/2022/09/2788/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=Built Environment Observatory |language=en-US}}</ref> As of 2021, the government of Egypt was still the majority shareholder, with its Holding Company for Construction and Development owning 72% of the company, while the second-largest shareholder by far was the government of [[Norway]], whose [[Norges Bank]] owned 1.19%.<ref name=":2" />
==Heliopolis Palace Hotel ==
{{Cleanup section|reason=This section is a duplicate of the Wikipedia page [[Heliopolis Palace]] and therefore it is recommended to either be rewritten to include all significant buildings, or to be deleted|date=February 2023}}
=== History ===
On September 23, 1905, the world celebrated the official date of [[Heliopolis Palace|this new hotel]]. Conceived by [[Belgians|Belgian]] architect [[Ernest Jaspar]], his birth boasted 400 shows including 55 private shows. <br />
Its banquet halls were amongst the biggest anywhere. The utilities were the state of the art technology of the time. All had been constructed and put together by the contracting firms [[Leon Rolin & Co.]] and [[Padova, Dentamaro & Ferro]], the biggest two civil contractors in [[Egypt]]. [[Siemens-Schuckert]] of [[Berlin]] fitted the hotel's web of electric cables and installations.<ref name="a" />
=== Design ===
As though intentional, its severe, almost forbidding exterior contrasted sharply with the extravagance of the interior. A 1912 visitor recounts: "Beyond the reception offices are two lavishly decorated rooms, in the [[Louis XIV style|Louis XIV]] and [[Louis XV style|Louis XV]] styles respectively and then comes the central hall, which is a dream of beauty and symmetry. Here the architecture, which is responsible for so many wonderful effects in [[Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)|Heliopolis]], reaches its artistic zenith. [[Damascus]]-made [[Oriental]] lamps hung from every corner and cranny hang." <br />
[[Albert I of Belgium|King Albert I]] (King of [[Belgium]]), who stayed in the hotel with his wife [[Elisabeth of Bavaria (1876-1965)|Queen Elisabeth]] for a month, said "C'est une merveille!" upon entering the main hall. <br />
The main hall, which was almost 589 meters<sup>2</sup>, had a 55-meter-wide [[dome]], designed by [[Alexander Marcel]] of the French Institute and decorated by [[Georges Claude]], was carpeted with the finest oriental rugs and fitted with large floor-to-ceiling mirrors, draperies and a large [[marble]] [[fireplace]]. Twenty-two Italian [[marble]] [[columns]] connected the parquet to the ceiling. To one side of the hall there was the dining room, which seated 150 guests, and to the other was the billiard hall with two full-sized [[History of English billiards#Forming of the modern game|Thurston]] tables, as well as a priceless French one. The hotel's [[mahogany]] [[furniture]] were supplied by Maple's Furniture ([[London]]). <br />
The hotel's area was so large, that a [[railway system]] was installed, running through the hotel; passing by offices, kitchens, refrigerators, storerooms and the staff housing.<ref name="a">{{cite web |url=http://www.egy.com/landmarks/98-03-19.shtml |title=The Heliopolis Palace Hotel |accessdate=2008-03-10 |author=Samir Raafat |date=1998-03-19 |work=Cairo Times |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219154643/http://www.egy.com/landmarks/98-03-19.shtml |archivedate=2008-02-19 }}</ref>
=== World Wars and after ===
During [[World War I]] and [[World War II|II]], the hotel was transformed into a military hospital for [[United Kingdom|British]] soldiers. <br />
After [[World War II]], air travel reduced the average tourist stay to a few days. As tourism became a mega-industry, massive hotels emerged in [[Egypt]] with interiors calculated on the basis of return per square meter. Unable to compete, the hotel became less popular.<ref name="a" />
=== Becoming a Presidential palace ===
In the 1980s, which marks the beginning of the [[Hosni Mubarak|Mubarak]] regime, the Heliopolis Palace Hotel was declared the [[Egyptian Presidential Palace|headquarters]] of the new presidential administration, after becoming the location of various government departments for over 10 years.<ref name="a" />
== Heliopark plot ==
In October 2003, a presidential decree allocated the Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development a {{convert|1695|acre|km2|adj=on}} plot of land in the [[satellite city]] of [[New Cairo]], as a compensation for the land that was taken to build the [[Cairo International Airport]].<ref name="Company Profile" /> In 2021, and agreement was made for its development as the Heliopark project.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bedeir |first=Abdullah |last2=Mubasher |title=Heliopolis Housing launches Heliopark development project |url=https://www.zawya.com/en/business/heliopolis-housing-launches-heliopark-development-project-c7esn7og |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=www.zawya.com |language=en}}</ref>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.heliopoliscompany.com Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development’s homepage]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Real estate companies of Egypt]]
[[Category:Railway companies of Egypt]]
[[Category:Real estate companies established in 1906]]
[[Category:Companies based in Cairo]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1906]]
[[Category:1906 establishments in Egypt]]
[[Category:Egyptian brands]]
[[Category:Belgium–Egypt relations]]