Egypt downsized a project with Dubai's Arabtec to construct 100,000 residential units instead of the original plan to build one million units, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly told local media.

"Negotiations with Arabtec are based on a project to build 100,000 units over five years. If the company then asks to execute an additional part, the government would not mind," Madbouly was quoted as saying by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

The UAE-based real estate company has been negotiating with the Egyptian government for the past year-and-a-half the terms for building one million housing units.

The project has been viewed as one of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's megaprojects through which he seeks to uplift an economy battered by four years of political upheaval.

Arab Gulf states have provided Egypt with over $20 billion in aid since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The oil-rich Arab countries have supported El-Sisi's economic recovery plans and promised several investments in Egypt.