Dubai Marina - The First Intelligent City

By Shanti Kalyaan (www.godubai.com)

The world's first fully online city will soon be a reality. Touted as the city of the future, Dubai Marina ushers in a whole new sophisticated era of lifestyle that will integrate every aspect of living and working in Dubai.

Online City
The online city in essence means the residents will be able to use the IT network to control their living environment and appliances at the click of a mouse. Every part of the city is connected to a high bandwidth network that will provide access to local and global services. Be it e-healthcare, e-business, e-education, e-government or e-leisure, residents of the city will have total 24/7 access. Dubai Marine City Project (undertaken by Emaar) features classy apartment towers, landscaped parks, shopping centers, schools, upmarket hotels, medical, recreation and entertainment facilities. In short, the city will spell the ultimate in luxurious living.

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Emaar residents to get Internet City services

6-Jun-2005

Dubai Internet City (DIC) will now offer an array of internet services including protocol-based voice, internet and video services to residents of Emaar Properties units in Dubai. Operating through its IP services provision arm, DIC has supervised the successful operations of its IP (internet protocol) network across DIC, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village.

The DIC has recently acquired the telecommunications arm of Sahm Technologies, the ICT unit of Emaar Properties, the Dubai-based property developer. The acquisition of tele-communications arm of the Sahm Technologies is a natural and suitable attainment for DIC.

"Given the experience that DIC's service provision arm has accumulated since its inception in 2000, residents in Emaar properties can look forward to better services, improved quality of service and forward-thinking packages and services," the press release eleborated.

Since its opening in 2000, the telecommunications arm of DIC has successfully operated IP-based services for its business partners, and will now offer a wide range ofservices using one of the most advanced and state of the art 'Ethernet' access networks in the world.

This plan highlights DIC's progressive strategy of providing IP services in Dubai. Emaar has built some of the most advanced high-speed internet-access technologies into its premises, facilitating the residents to enjoy voice, television as well as high-speed internet access in a manner that is unequalled by other. DIC Telecom will take over the premises used by Sahm and will keep the same contact details as before, the customers will receive their bills for the services from Dubai Internet City starting from the 1st of July 2005.

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Grosvenor House opens hotel in Dubai Marina

Posted: 22-06-2005 , 06:14 GMT

The first hotel on Dubai’s newest residential location, Dubai Marina, the 45-storey Grosvenor House West Marina Beach by Le Meridien, has opened its doors to hotel guests and apartment residents.

The hotel, which has been just over two years in the making, is a mix of furnished apartments and hotel, and general manager Pam Wilby said: “This is a total lifestyle property, and all the facilities have been created to answer what the modern guest or resident truly wants.

“Like the new neighbourhood of Dubai Marina, which is tipped to house more than 10,000 people within a couple of years, we believe Grosvenor House will form a vibrant part of the city’s community.

From the foundations up, the striking building was custom-designed to reflect the essence of Arabia fused with the very latest in technology, design and luxury.

Soft furnishings have followed clean lines, with a vibrant, autumnal colour palette and textured materials, as well as signature touches such as the giant carpet in the lobby and the neon green Perspex panels in Mezzanine, the hotel’s flagship restaurant.

Mezzanine joins 12 other restaurants and bars, all of which are open to hotel guests and non-residents. Gary Robinson, former personal chef to HRH Prince Charles in Britain, is chef-patron of Mezzanine, while celebrity chef Vineet Bhatia heads up the modern Indian restaurant Indego.

Wilby explained: “Fresh restaurant and bar concepts are crucial to ensure great ‘word of mouth’ in the local market, and all of our outlets have been designed to fill an identified niche in the market.

“Our chefs, some of whom are celebrities in their own right, have been attracted by the Grosvenor House name and standards, as well as the chance to open a restaurant in Dubai.”

Turning to spa and health facilities, Grosvenor House has a dedicated floor, Retreat Health & Spa, with key outlets operated by Nextar, the company behind the popular N.Bar concept.

Retreat will house the fourth N.Bar in Dubai, the second 1847, and the group’s first ever hair bar. The hair concept, which currently has the working title of The Hair Bar, is tipped to revolutionise ladies grooming further, after the runaway success of N.Bar and 1847, the group’s venture for men. Retreat will open in July.

The health and spa will have a total of seven treatment rooms for men and ladies offering the latest spa treatments as well as a hair and nail studio, hydropools, steam, sauna and jacuzzi, plus private rooms for those who seek an indulgent day of pampering.

Wilby explained: “We have been fast to recognise that personal grooming, from top to toe and in between, is as important to today’s lifestyle. So, we are aiming to ensure a seamless lifestyle service, from valet parking to suit pressing to great restaurants, a tip-top manicure and more.

Turning to event and business facilities at Grosvenor House, there is a dedicated conference centre, which like both the hotel and apartments, has a separate entrance.

The business areas feature cutting-edge technology, with a multi-use ballroom, boardrooms, syndicate break-out rooms and a service-driven, quality-aware business support centre.

The hotel has 217 sea-facing rooms, while the 205 apartments will offer stunning marina views, and three of the signature touches will be plasma televisions in all rooms, personalised butler service and 24-hour room service from all outlets, in addition to the use of beach and pool facilities at the hotel’s sister property, Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa.

The top 11 floors will be dedicated to the Grosvenor Club, premium executive accommodation where guests will also have access to the 44th floor dedicated lounge that will provide an unrivalled observation deck over Dubai.
© 2005 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

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Dubai Marina, Dubai

Article about the construction of a large shopping mall in the Dubai Marina.

Dubai Marina (formerly named Westside Marina) is truly one of the most ambitious urban development projects ever undertaken. The concept is to create a modern canal oriented "Venice in the desert". The project was initiated under the supervision of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Head of UAE Cabinet, Ruler of Dubai and H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Dubai Marina project is headed up by Emaar Properties' Chairman H.E. Mohamed Bin Ali Alabbar. The Dubai Marina is located on the west side of Dubai in Jumeira encompassing a total area of 60 million square metres and commanding uninterrupted views of the Arabian Gulf. It will eventually house a community of over 100,000 residents, and a bustling commercial district. Neighbourhoods will have their own 'town centres' with parks and plazas, cafes and restaurants, hotels and shops, and a host of recreational facilities. All will be located around a meandering marina canal, which will be linked to the Gulf at either end and provide a safe haven for yachts and motorboats. As a construction project, Dubai Marina is a massive undertaking. To be phased over a 10 to 14 year period, the entire development is forecast to cost at least US$4.4 billion. Dubai Marina was inaugurated with the completion of the marina canal. This canal opens to the Gulf and will provide the residential and commercial developments (i.e. Emirates Hills, Emirates Lakes, Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Internet City) with uninterrupted sea frontage. With its extensive bridges and yacht mooring facilities, the marina will add significant value to the nearby projects which will consist of six separate districts to be built in phases. Phase 1 of the development (now under construction) includes six prestigious residential high-rise towers, two of which will be 37 stories high, and the remaining four towers will be 28, 24, 20 and 16 stories high accommodating over 1,200 apartments, waterfront villas, and parking for 2,000 vehicles. Talbot Consultants International Inc. were recently retained by HOK Canada to assist them in designing the centrepiece for Phase 2 of the project; an 825,000 sq. ft. mixed-use "Town Centre". Based on our retail planning experience in the Middle East we were asked to advise HOK & Emaar on the layout and design, potential local & international anchors and the optimum selection, sizing & clustering of the retailers. We were also asked to advise on the sizing, layout and composition of the entertainment, food court and hotel components. Since the potential customers will primarily be residents (both local and expat) from the surrounding residential towers, office workers (both local and expat) from the adjacent Internet City and international tourists from the adjacent hotels particular attention was paid to the direct linkages to these areas so as to facilitate easy customer access & egress. The project is currently in the final design stage.


Artist rendering of shopping mall interior.

Link to project consultant's project info page 1 and info page 2.

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Dubai Marina

Long article from Construction Industry Times.

Dubai Marina is setting a challenging new view of what the city of the future will be like. The 10-year project, based round a four-kilometre man-made waterway, will provide an environmentally and electronically advanced home for 50,000 residents.

Phase one of the project is a landmark development, six residential towers, which will set the standards for the entire project.

This US$325 million phase one development is taking place in two stages - the three north towers and podium for completion in July 2003, and the south section of the project for completion in February 2004.

The project was launched in 1998, the first stage of the development being the canal which opens out into the Gulf.

The 43-storey Al Murjan tower, 34-storey Al Mass and 26-storey Fairooz towers will be ready for residents to move in by the final quarter of 2003.

Providing homes for up to 3,500 people, the project also includes 64 villas. The two-storey podium will contain parking for 2,100 cars, a fitness centre, a day care centre and space for 20 retail outlets.

The scale of the construction places it on a par with the Emirate Towers - the tallest buildings in the Middle East, and the tenth tallest in the world.

Three and a half million square feet of concrete floors will be used to build the entire phase one of the project.

At its peak, an estimated 7,000 people will be involved on site during the construction of the six-tower complex.

From the exterior of the towers there is an immediate difference to most of the ambitious projects that are springing up in Dubai.

Developers EMAAR wanted the towers to have a sense of permanence, so architects HOK chose an atypical pre-cast panel facade, rather than the aluminium and glass fronts that can be seen along Sheikh Zayed Road.

"Each tower has a different presentation - in terms of colour, and also in terms of engravings on the facade," explains project manager Rob Allan.

Yet this design provides more than just a different look to the building - it also offers protection from the extreme heat of the area.

The design has been based upon systems used in Canada, where the issue is exactly the opposite, keeping out extreme cold.

By adapting the design - a pre-cast panel with a polyurethane sandwich - and altering the position of the windproof and waterproof membranes, the buildings become very efficient, both thermally and acoustically.

For the eventual occupants of the towers this means a reduced demand for air conditioning, cutting power consumption, and therefore reducing costs whilst maximising environmental benefits.

The sense of permanence runs through the entire phase - on every level from the design, to the structure, to the leasehold.

"It is not every day that you get the chance to establish what is, I suppose, a new satellite city," said a delighted Daniel Hajjar, Gulf regional manager for the designers, HOK Canada.

"With that brief, and the fact of where this is, something pretty special has been delivered. A lot of pioneering things were established on this project.

"For example the idea of a 99-year lease, or a freehold, did not exist in this part of the world. In North America and the UK they are used to it - here it is something entirely different.

"How you cater for that market is entirely different to how you cater for a rental market - whether it is in the laws, the detailing, and even the longevity of the building - all these elements are influenced by that."

Designing for the future means taking account of technology, coming to terms with the different ways in which people will be living, not just over coming years, but coming decades.

An example of the way this has been approached is the incorporation of data points throughout each apartment in the towers.

Between 16 and 24 data points have been included in every apartment, near to every point where electrical goods might be situated.

Rob Allan elaborates: "It is designed so that in the future, if an owner wishes to connect appliances, for example air conditioning or electric blinds, to a communications system, they can run it all from a remote location.

"Equally, from the same 24 data points you can plug in a computer or a TV and get broadband access. EMAAR has established that as a norm for all the apartments. It is fed by broadband fibre optic cable and will be connected to an external service provider."

A high level of technical sophistication is accompanied by the highest quality finishes.

"We have created a landmark development," says Daniel Hajjar, "with each building having an individual identity throughout.

"Whilst they are quite modern buildings in terms of the skin, and the technology being used, there are touches catering it to a particular locale - the Gulf.

"We didn't want these expressions to age themselves, so they are classic in nature - which adds to the sense of longevity.

"In terms of integrity and the level of finish you would be hard pressed to find anything of that level of quality anywhere in Dubai."

Setting a standard for the rest of the Marina has been central to the planning and execution of the construction work.

But from a practical point of view, as the first element of the Marina, phase one has had to create an infrastructure that will provide for all the following projects, as well as cater for itself.

"It has been much more than just a building project," confirms Rob Allan, "It is creating the infrastructure and making sure it works.

"This development was on the edge of the Marina, but there were no roads around it.

"And within the space of two years [the construction period for phase one] the infrastructure design consultants, Parsons International Ltd and Hyder Consulting, have had to integrate the immediate services needs for phase one with the overall design for the full Marina development.

"It has certainly been a challenge.

"The road structure is now being built, and we have resolved with the local authorities how to get portable water, irrigation water, telephone and data services and electricity on to the site.

"We have had to establish temporary measures for sewerage - for the first year we will connect into an EMAAR sewage treatment plant."

Work is about to start on a further nine private sites, while EMAAR are ready to begin on a further six sites themselves, as the rollout of the site continues.

"Design guidelines have been put in place for all of the developments," said Rob Allan. "There are some constants. The waterfront promenade has to have a common feel, so that you can walk around the Marina and feel you are still in the same place.

"The road network will also be landscaped in a common manner across the community. And the landscaping done across each development is defined to an extent.

"However, EMAAR's phase one development will be the jewel in the crown - an extremely luxurious development. Just in terms of the amount of space it has - it is very generous.

"On the podium, the footprints of each tower leave a large area for landscaping. You have six towers coming up out of six and a half hectares of land - it's quite a hike to get around when I go out on site.

Yet the level of finishing, and the scale of the project, has not slowed the speed. Whilst Mace originally projected a 28-month construction period, the NASA Multiplex/Al Futtaim Tarmac joint venture determined to complete the project in just two years and is on course to do so.

"The contractor has worked around the clock," said Rob Allan. "The structure cycle time has been around five days per floor - despite it being a detailed floor with a lot of sheer walls.

"The towers have been effectively topped out in 12 months - it's incredibly fast construction. The contractor is committed to delivering the project in 24 months and we have no doubts he will do it. EMAAR were confident enough in his early performance to appoint him for the second half of the project."

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Towering Ambition

December 10, 2004

...unsurprisingly the world’s largest man-made marina, which will eventually have capacity for 150,000 people. Over 20 towers under construction are being promoted by Emaar and other private developers, with apartment prices ranging from $60,000 to $1.3m, and all of the finished towers have been sold. But a visit to the marina at night shows that barely 20% of lights in the apartments are on, suggesting that real occupants are still thin on the ground.

Exerpt from the following article in Foreign Direct Investment magazine.

Long Article

Dazzlingly ambitious building projects, adding up to some $30bn worth of construction, are currently under way in Dubai. Meanwhile the other six emirates are also slowly but surely opening up to the advantages of attracting foreign real estate buyers. Will McSheehy reports.

Although the United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven independent sheikhdoms, it is Dubai that usually hogs the international limelight. Learning from the experiences of city-states such as Singapore, Dubai’s rulers have taken pains to build a brand image for their emirate that is synonymous with success, wealth, quality of life and ambition. “What is good for business is good for Dubai,” affirms Dubai’s visionary crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in a quote posted on DubaiInc.com, an economic development website that capitalises on the moniker often used to describe the way the city is run as a commercial enterprise.

With over 90% of the UAE’s oil wealth controlled by Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate and federal capital, Dubai’s rulers saw the writing on the wall back in the 1970s. Its oil supplies dwindling, Dubai set about building an economy based on re-exportation using large ports at Jebel Ali and Port Rashid, and in recent years has created a plethora of free zones serving industries as diverse as media, IT, automotives, healthcare and precious metals. Tourism is also big business, and the number of annual visitors is projected to increase from five million last year to 15 million by 2015. Building on its natural advantages of sandy beaches and year-round sunshine, plus its economic advantages of tax-free living and plentiful international flight connections, Dubai wants to be the new Riviera for the Middle East as well as its undisputed trade and services entrepot.

Today Dubai is fast becoming a city of iconic structures. The Burj Al Arab hotel, designed to be reminiscent of a billowing dhow sail, faces stiff competition for attention from two palm tree-shaped resorts emerging from the sea off the coastline at Jumeirah and Jebel Ali. So large are these structures that they’re visible from space, and their fronds will support thousands of residences and hotels due to become ready for occupation from 2005 onwards.

Reaching for the sky

Further inland the cement was poured for the foundations of The Burj Dubai in September, at 800 metres set to be the tallest skyscraper in the world and yet only one component of a development called Downtown Dubai that aims to create a new heart for the city from scratch. Billed as the biggest and most varied entertainment and tourism attraction on the planet, the 185m sq metre Dubailand leisure park will open in phases between 2007 and 2018. From tropical biospheres to roller-coasters and championship athletics tracks, the six themed zones within the park have been designed to satisfy almost every conceivable leisure need.

The success of these ventures is predicated on the attraction of skilled expatriates and investment, while armies of South Asian labourers build the infrastructure required to provide local transportation, power, and water desalination services. Indeed, 70 % of the population is made up of Asian and European expatriates who commonly stay for between two and 10 years, making for strong demand in the property rental market.

Real estate is one of the lynchpins of the local economy, and in total some $30bn worth of construction projects are currently underway in Dubai. According to the calculations of Kuwait’s Global Investment House, the three major developers – Emaar, Nakheel and Estithmaar – are expected to deliver between $2.2bn and $2.7bn worth of property to the market every year for the next five years. Moreover as the local developers are constantly trying to outdo each other with the most dazzling new concept, the list of landmark projects looks set to get ever longer as time goes on.

The scale of Emaar’s developments in the south of the city near the internet and media free zones is simply mind-boggling in terms of both size and the speed at which construction is taking place. What was empty desert surrounding the Emirates Golf Club just a few years ago is now a sea of rooftops, and so quickly is the district’s population growing that the service roads are regularly clogged with commuter traffic queueing to join the Sheikh Zayed Road arterial highway.

Range of budgets

At the top end of the market 19,000 sq ft six-bedroom villas in the landscaped Avalon area of the Emirates Hills cost $2m, while those clustered around the new Montgomerie. Golf Club start at about $400,000 and Hattan Villas at The Lakes weigh in at an average $680,000. From there prices generally scale down through districts that have been designed to suit a range of budgets. At The Springs an attached three-bedroom villa goes for $170,000, while the all-apartment low-rise blocks of The Greens contain studios from $50,000.

In each case Emaar has tried hard to surround the new buildings with green spaces, water features and facilities for sports and shopping. It is also working with the government to try to enhance local road networks to keep up with the pace of expansion.

Government-owned Nakheel is the developer of The World, a collection of 300 private islands in the shape of a global map, plus the palm resorts and several onshore developments including Jumeirah Islands, Discovery Gardens and the Lost City. Costing a total $3bn to build, The World’s islands are selling for between $6m and $36m each and over 10% have already been bought by pre-approved investors and development consortia. The 14 islands that make up Australia, for example, have been bought for residential and hotel development by a Kuwaiti group.

Having sold all the villas on its first Palm Jumeirah in just 72 hours, Nahkeel was recently ordered by Sheikh Mohammed to build a third palm off the district of Deira. Describing it as ‘the final chapter’ in the palm series, Nakheel launched The Palm Deira internationally at the World Travel Market held in London this November. “It is the global response to the Palm project that has led to the recent announcement of the third palm-shaped island in Dubai,” said Sultan bin Sulayem, then executive director of Nakheel. “Since it is international investor interest that precipitated the creation of the third island, we believe that several interested audiences will want to interact with the Nakheel delegation while we are in London.”

British buyers

For many of the high-end developments coming onto the market, foreign buying interest from Asians and Europeans, particularly Britons, is reported to be strong. Those considering purchasing property in the UAE do need to consider two potential downsides to the deal, however, the first of which is freehold legislation. Sheikh Mohammed may have started the ball rolling with his 2002 decree permitting foreign land ownership in designated developments, but this has yet to be ratified at a federal level. The constitution of the UAE states that the emirates may determine their own land laws and regulations provided that they do not conflict with federal legislation, yet Abu Dhabi has not granted any freehold rights to expatriates and the wording of federal law on the matter remains unclear.

The international profile of Dubai’s developments leave few in doubt that the federal ratification will eventually be granted, and Abu Dhabi is understood to be considering liberalisation within its own borders. In the mean time local UAE banks and finance companies are building strong mortgage businesses, though international banks are taking a far more cautious approach exacerbated by a lack of laws regarding repossession in the event of a default.

Dubai’s case for the relaxation of the federal freehold laws has also been supported by unilateral moves in several of the northern emirates. Keen to attract foreign investment and long-term residents, Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost emirate of the UAE, launched the $272m Al Hamra Village project in 2003. Within five months of the first phase of 200 villas and 320 apartments going on sale, a mixture of Europeans and locals had bought 75% of the properties off-plan. Prices ranged from $57,000 to $454,000, and the second phase to be released at the end of 2004 will offer a further 200 villas, 180 apartments and 50 duplexes. When completed at the end of 2006, the Al Hamra resort will contain 1300 residential units along with a marina and 18-hole golf course. It also offers views of the Hajar mountain range in the distance, a unique feature on a coast mainly characterised by flat desert scrub.

Easier travel

Much of the project’s practical appeal rests on the extension of the Emirates Road running to Dubai. A journey to Dubai today can consume the best part of two hours, but by the time Al Hamra is finished planners promise that travel times will be slashed to as little as 40 minutes. Easy access to Dubai is also part of the sales pitch in Ajman, the smallest emirate in the UAE and the third to offer freehold rights to foreigners when plans for the $68m Al Naeemiya Towers were unveiled in June. Close to the Sharjah border and also on the Emirates Road commuter route, the complex will provide a total 470 apartments when completed in November 2005. Prices for two-bedroom apartments at $77,000 and three-bedrooms at $100,000 make for competitive living space relative to Dubai.

Although clear information is hard to come by, estate agents say that villas and undeveloped land can be bought by foreigners elsewhere in the emirate too.

Reports in the local newspapers in October led investors to believe that Sharjah was opening up to foreign residential investment, but at present the government only permits the purchase of land that will be used for commercial enterprises leading to job creation for Sharjah nationals. Sharjah is situated just north of Dubai, and its laws and codes of conduct are more overtly Islamic than those of its liberal neighbour. The remaining two emirates, Fujairah on the east coast and Umm Al Qaiwain between Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, have not yet spoken out about their plans.

Pricing problems

Aside from legal clarification, the next most pressing issue in Dubai is the spectre of a price bubble. Estate agents report that speculators have been making profits of between 15% and 100% from buying properties off-plan as soon as they are released on the market, and then selling them on as the delivery date nears. This profiteering has certainly helped to boost interest in new projects, in many cases causing queues to form outside developers’ offices when a new issue is announced, but it does not necessarily help the government’s strategy to double the population by 2010.

Recognising the need for large-scale immigration to sustain economic growth, Sheikh Mohammed wants to see business executives and their families relocating to Dubai. What he doesn’t want is for speculators to snap up vast swathes of property that then lie empty.

The effects of this problem can already be seen in developments such as Emaar’s $10bn Dubai Marina, unsurprisingly the world’s largest man-made marina, which will eventually have capacity for 150,000 people. Over 20 towers under construction are being promoted by Emaar and other private developers, with apartment prices ranging from $60,000 to $1.3m, and all of the finished towers have been sold. But a visit to the marina at night shows that barely 20% of lights in the apartments are on, suggesting that real occupants are still thin on the ground.

Resale limits

Aware of the damage that will be done to their future projects if the ones they’ve already released are not being bought to live in or to rent, the developers agreed to take action in late October. Emaar issued a statement in the local media saying that it and its peers were acting to “ease fears that the market is overheating with partly-paid apartments being treated like shares in an IPO”.

These actions include the imposition of contractual clauses to prevent the resale of financed properties within two years of initial sale, and transfer fees of up to 2%. Finance companies have also been reducing the percentage of a property’s value that can be mortgaged so that a maximum of 70% is now the average, as well as reducing repayment tenures. It is further rumoured that the government itself is considering action to inhibit paper trading, though no official statement has been made.

From its origins in the crowded Deira and Bur Dubai districts straddling the creek, Dubai has rapidly grown southwards along the beach and the Sheikh Zayed Road linking Dubai with Abu Dhabi. From the Fairmont Hotel and World Trade Centre to the Dusit Hotel, the road is lined with high-rise towers. As well as construction preparations for Downtown Dubai and The Burj Dubai, this area is home to what is arguably Dubai’s most ambitious development yet.

More than building

When it issued its first three licences on 20 September, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) ceased to be just another construction project and became an operational free zone designed to foster a new financial services cluster in the Middle East. Like the financial harbour project in nearby Bahrain, the physical infrastructure of the DIFC will be tantamount to a self-contained city including office space, serviced apartments, hotels, shops and restaurants. Incoming financial institutions will either be able to lease space in buildings such as the signature Gate, or they will be able to buy land freehold on which to build their own premises.

Damac Properties, a local developer, has already started building two 30-storey towers, Park Towers at DIFC, offering 432 one to three bedroom luxury apartments. These properties will be available on a freehold basis, and as with similar developments foreign freeholders will automatically be granted a UAE residency visa on completion of payment.

Overseeing body

What makes the DIFC ambitious is not its buildings, but the independent regulatory body that has been set up to oversee all businesses operating within the centre. Since 2002 a team of bankers and lawyers has synthesised the financial services regulations of jurisdictions such as the UK, US, and Canada to produce DIFC laws that incorporate what is perceived to be international best practice. Armed with this resource and the lure of local access to the estimated $1800bn of Arab wealth, the DIFC and its regulators hope to attract foreign financial services firms into Dubai from where they can service both the Middle East and South Asia markets.

Licences issued

The first three licences went to Julius Baer private bank, Standard Chartered and a GCC energy fund, and a total of 20 licences are due to be issued by the end of the year.

If successful at creating an onshore capital market for banks, insurers and asset management firms, the DIFC will create an economic powerhouse capable of financing much of Dubai’s future growth. Given that Sheikh Mohammed is fond of saying that the world has only seen 10% of his plans for the emirate, that growth can reasonably be expected to be rapid and significant.

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First Marina Homeowners Association

Published: 16/6/2005, 06:58 (UAE), Gulf News

First association for homeowners set up in Dubai

Staff Report

Dubai :

The UAE's first duly elected homeowners association has been established in Dubai. More than 10,000 new homeowners have moved into Dubai's newly built apartments and villas.

The newly formed Dubai Marina Phase 1 Owners Association has been created to represent the interests of all the homeowners residing in 6 towers and 64 villas located within the Dubai Marina Phase 1 the city's new cosmopolitan waterfront development.

"This is a significant moment in the rights of residents living in the UAE and we are very proud to be working with the Phase 1 Manager and Project Developer to represent the interests of owners," a spokesperson said.

"We are very much looking forward to liaising with and reporting to Dubai Marina homeowners and welcome their views."

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