Egyptian businessman establishes a tourist project in al-Aqaba

The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Youm on Wednesday said that the Egyptian businessman and billionaire Najib Sawyers has bought a piece of Land in Aqaba, southern Jordan to establish a tourism project on it. The Jordanian paper explained that Sawyers bought some 74 hectares to build a tourism village including hotels, restaurants and luxury sites at an estimated cost of 1.8 billion Jordanian dinars ( US $ 2.5 billion).

Sawyers visited Jordan in may and he was discussed by the Jordanian King Abdullah Bin al-Hussein and discussed with him the possibility of investing in al-Aqaba, where the Jordanian government is intending to set up a special economic area that offers exempts and privileges to investors. The Jordanian King, then, expressed his backing to Sawyers project.

Earlier, the Jordanian investor Raouf Abu Jaber, Sawyers partner in this project announced earlier that his company reached an agreement with al-Aqaba port authority in preparation to launching the project which is expected to last for three years.

Earlier this year, Sawyers bought 65% of the " Fast Ling" company, the first cellular company in Jordan.