Nakheel launches new dubai projects
Nakheel, the debt laden real estate arm of state owned conglomerate Dubai World, plans to resume work on short term residential projects by the end of October, it has announced...
In the economic downturn a huge number of projects in Dubai have been put on hold and cancelled. Now Nakheel says it will re-start construction work at Al Furjan, Jumeirah Village, Jumeirah Park, Jumeirah Heights Clusters, Veneto, Badhrah, Jumeirah Islands Mansions and International City.
It amounts to around AED7 to AED8 billion worth of work and will be welcomed by the real estate and construction industries in the emirate.
‘It is going to be very positive for the market. These projects aren't going to be ghost towns but are going to be completed. We have customers lined up and ready to move into these projects as we complete them,' said Chris O'Donnell, Nakheel chief executive officer.
The firm is also planning expansions of its two existing Dubai malls, Dragon Mart and Ibn Battuta, and to expand its retail portfolio with up to five malls.
‘Dragon Mart has continued to be incredibly successful in this downturn. The physical number of people coming through and actual dirhams spent has increased in the last two years. Ibn Battuta mall is the same,' O'Donnell explained.
The new malls, to be launched next year, will be based in existing developments such as Discovery Gardens and Jumeirah Village. The retail centres, which are currently in the design stage, will include supermarkets and specialist retail stores.
‘The key focus is to finish the restructuring, get the eight projects back up and running and then the malls will come next year,' he said. Nakheel expects to finish its debt restructuring by the end of the year.
Nakheel has suspended a number of mega projects in the wake of the property crash, including its ambitious offshore developments Palm Jebel Ali and The Universe. The firm is at the heart of the financial problems suffered by its parent company Dubai World, which last November asked to renegotiate more than $24 billion of debt.
The Universe, which was launched in 2008, is one of the most ambitious in the world, comprising a multimillion dollar island development located off Dubai's coastline. Work on Palm Jebel Ali, which is around 50% larger than Palm Jumeirah, began in 2002.
O'Donnell confirmed that neither projects are likely to be revived in the short term but the company is retaining the designs. ‘The thing about Dubai is, never say never,' he said.
The main difficulty for many developers if financing as lending for real estate projects has more or less dried up in Dubai. Large scale lending to real estate projects is not expected to revive for some time as banks remain extremely reluctant to lend in this sector.
Source: www.propertywire.com