Monday, Oct 06, 2008

Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi-based Al Maabar International Investments has lined up overseas investments worth $11.5 billion (Dh42.2 billion) over 10 years, its managing director said on Monday.

The investments will be in real estate projects in Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Qatar, Belarus and Jordan, said Yousef M. Al Nowais.

"Our focus is international and our mandate is to develop projects outside Abu Dhabi. Two of our overseas projects are already on the ground - in Morocco and in Libya," Al Nowais told a news conference.

"These are to be immediately funded. The rest of the projects are long-term - they are now either under initial master plan or are going into detail design," Al Nowais said.

He said $1 billion will be spent over the next three years for developing Al Maabar's overseas projects. "We have secured the funds. The funding of our projects is by our stakeholders and others. There's no immediate need for us to raise money on the capital markets," Al Nowais added.

The estimated construction cost of the projects include $618 million for Morocco, $300 million for Libya, $1.3 billion for the first phase of development in Tunisia, $380 million for Qatar, $500 million for Belarus and $8.3 billion for Jordan, Al Nowais added.

Al Maabar also unveiled at the news conference its plans for a mixed-use waterfront development in Aqaba, Jordan. The 3.2-million square metre development will include the relocation and modernisation of the port facilities of the strategically-located Red Sea city and development of the mixed-use waterfront infrastructure.

The project in Jordan will have high-rise residential towers, a retail district, recreational and entertainment districts and several branded waterfront hotels and resorts, Al Nowais said.

"The Jordan project is scheduled to be completed in two phases. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2013 and the second in 2017," a statement from Al Maabar said.

Al Nowais said Al Maabar's Bab Al Bahr mixed-use project in Morocco will be completed in three years and construction will start this month.

Joint venture

Construction has started on the Libya project - Al Waha - and will be developed over a four-year period, he said.

The Libya project is a 50-50 joint venture between Al Maabar and Libya Investment & Development Company (Lidco).

Al Nowais said their project in Tunisia - Bled Elward - will be developed over a 20-year period.

Two sites

For the first phase I of the project that will have a development area of 300 hectares, the construction works are to be carried out over five years.

As for Belarus, he said, Al Maabar has identified two sites in Minsk for development.

Al Maabar was formed in September 2006, as a strat-egic joint venture among five of the largest Abu Dhabi-based real estate developers - Aldar PropertiesAldar Properties PJSC, Sorouh Real EstateSorouh Real Estate, Reem InvestmentsReem Investments, Reem International and Al Qudra HoldingsAl Qudra Holdings.

© Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.

 

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