relaxing in Dubai

Kele Contracting making a 3 star hotel near Dragon Mart

Kele ContractingKele Contracting has announced that it is building a hotel next to Nakheel’s Dragon Mart complex in Dubai.

The hotel is part of the 177,000 sq m Dragon Mart Phase 2 development.

Arabian Business quotes Andrew Elias, CEO of Kele Contracting, “We are very pleased to be awarded the contract to construct the Dragon Mart Hotel, which forms an excellent addition to our extensive portfolio of projects.”

The nine storey three-star hotel will feature approximately 246 rooms and the project is scheduled to be completed in 13 months.

During the development of the hotel, Kele will be responsible for the full scope of the work on the project and delivering the project.

Dragon Mart is a retail complex consisting of retail outlets, a hypermarket, cinema, children’s amusement area, gym and food and beverage venues, and is open for traders in the wholesale and retail business.

International City rents drop below Dhs 15,000

International City

Rents in the International City area of Dubai have slipped below AED15,000 a year for the first time, as prices in Dubai’s battered property market continue to fall.

Several studios in the Nakheel development are available for as little as AED14,000 a year, although most landlords require potential tenants to pay the full amount in a single cheque.

A series of studios measuring 455 sq ft in size are listed in many of the development’s clusters, including England, China, Italy and Greece.

The prices are more than 50 percent lower than the AED30,000-35,000 bracket recommended in RERA’s first Dubai rental index, published in October 2009.

Dubai, the worst-hit property market in the Gulf, saw house prices more than halve in late-2008 as the financial crash wiped out project funding and brought a halt to its real estate boom.

Nakheel was one of the biggest casualties of the crash, suspending at least 100 projects in the wake of the downturn.
Earlier this month, real estate consultancy Asteco said that rents in International City had fallen by four percent in the second quarter of the year.

The drop was worse in Discovery Gardens, also developed by Nakheel. Asteco said that rents in the development near Jebel Ali had fallen by 11 percent in the last three months.

Both projects have suffered lower values as depressed prices elsewhere in Dubai have led renters to move to other locations.

International City residents have long complained about poor infrastructure, the lack of sufficient access to the development, and the proximity of a nearby sewage processing plant.

From: Arabian Business

dubai mall open after coronavirus lock down

Nakheel to split from Dubai World by June

NakheelNakheel will be carved out of parent company Dubai World and become a government-owned entity by June, when its efforts to restructure $10.8bn in debt will be complete.

The indebted developer was at the heart of the debt problems suffered by its parent company Dubai World, which roiled global markets in November 2009 when it asked for a standstill on around $25bn in loans.
Nakheel’s inability to meet its obligations, in the wake of a property collapse and the global credit crunch, left it with billions of dirhams in unpaid bills to contractors and suppliers.

In March, Nakheel said it had paid AED4.6bn ($1.25bn) in overdue payments to trade creditors.

The developer plans to issue around AED5bn in Islamic bonds by the end of the second quarter to contractors and trade creditors.

More than 90 percent of trade creditors have agreed to a plan that would see Nakheel pay off its bills through a 40 percent cash payoff with the remaining 60 percent issued in the form of sukuk shares with an annual return of eight percent.

Lawyers in Dubai warned in March that investors and trade creditors may find themselves unable to pursue disputes against Nakheel in the Dubai World tribunal after the split from Dubai World.

Those with outstanding disputes may find themselves in legal limbo if the tribunal – which was set up to hear disputes linked to Dubai World – can no longer rule on cases related to Nakheel.

The developer behind Dubai’s iconic palm-shaped island said in April it had stopped selling real estate units in Dubai in order to focus on offering credit swap options to existing investors.

Nakheel offered credit swaps in the wake of Dubai’s real estate crash, to enable buyers to transfer cash from unfinished or halted developments to completed real estate.

From: Arabian Business

relaxing in Dubai

No water at Nakheel run Discovery Gardens buildings

No water at Nakheel run Discovery Gardens buildings

The curse of “managed” properties reappeared as water has been disconnected to some buildings in Nakheel-run Discovery Gardens due to non-payment of Dewa bills.

Emirates 24|7 quote the residents:

“We have had no water for three days now. We called the Nakheel call centre and were told the [Nakheel] management was working to solve the issue,” S Kalyan, a resident of one of the Nakheel-managed buildings, told this website.

“We contacted the Dewa call centre and were told that Dh21,000 is outstanding from our building. Dewa told us that there are a number of buildings where they have already disconnected water supply,” she added.

When contacted, a Nakheel spokesman told this website: “We are currently consolidating all the accounts on the buildings that we manage with Dewa to verify the owners of all the accounts. We are resolving such cases immediately to minimise the impact on residents. This process is important to ensure no disruption in services and utilities to residents in the future.”

Residents of Building No 94 said their water connection had been disconnected three days back and they were finding it difficult to manage their daily chores.

Discovery Gardens consists of 26 million square feet and more than 26,000 apartments of various sizes. It is one of the most popular affordable housing communities across Dubai with one bedroom apartments now available for Dh38,000 per year.

dubai expat life

The World is washing away?

The World by Nakheel

The World is washing away. No, its not about philosophy or the Great Picture.

As recent report states that The World, a constellation of 300 man-made islands shaped like a map of the world, is washing away due to erosion and lack of development.

The CEO of Kleindienst Group, the developer behind the six-island Heart of Europe Project, said the islands off the coast of Dubai will be corroded by the sea if they remain undeveloped.

“Islands are land masses surrounded by the ocean, a moving body of water with waves created by tides and winds, and it is natural that edges of an island will be affected by these waves,” Josef Kleindienst said in an emailed statement to Arabian Business.

If an island remains undeveloped and unmaintained, erosion will occur.”

Construction on the offshore World development has ground to a virtual standstill in the wake of the economic downturn.

Many buyers on the Nakheel-backed chain of islands have failed to begin work, after Dubai’s real estate market saw prices plummet 60 percent from their peak.

The only notable construction work has been carried out by Kleindienst, although the 840m Heart of Europe project is significantly behind schedule.

Legal representatives for Penguin Marine, a contractor hired by Nakheel to transport goods and people to the islands, on Wednesday were reported as saying the project is falling into the sea.

The company said the channels between the islands were becoming clogged with silt as the islands gradually sank.

Penguin Marine is embroiled in a legal dispute with Nakheel, over the payment of an annual AED5m performance bond linked to its exclusive transport contract for The World.

Kleindienst, which plans to build European-themed resorts on its islands, said his company had suffered construction delays but was confident the project would be completed in 2015.

“It is true that The Heart of Europe has experienced some temporary delays in our construction caused by approval processes, but these now appear to have been resolved and we are expected to continue as planned within the forthcoming weeks.

“We are still expecting to complete The Heart of Europe by our scheduled date of 2015, and have full confidence in the long term success of this project,” he said.

Nakheel has refuted this claim.

dubai marina

Nakheel gets state cash to pay off debts

Nakheel gets state cash to pay off debtsTroubled property developer Nakheel has said that it would repay its $750m Islamic bond that matures next month, following funds being made available by Government of Dubai.

The company said in a statement to emirate’s bourse that sufficient funds has been made available by the Dubai Financial Support Fund for repayment of the Islamic bond that is due on Jan 16, 2011.

The builder of man-made islands off the coast of Dubai, said with this sukuk payment it would have repaid all previously issued sukuk and would request the Nasdaq Dubai bourse to delist them.

Abdul Kadir Hussain, chief executive of Mashreq Capital in Dubai said that the payment of sukuk was expected by the market.

The fact that the payment would be made by Dubai’s financial support fund was also known since Nakheel was not expected to have the money to make the payment themselves,” said Hussain.

“It is another positive development for Nakheel and there are no surprises and last-minute volatility when it comes to repayment like before.

The indebted developer on Wednesday said that 91 percent of its trade creditors have agreed to its $10.9bn restructuring proposal.

Nakheel, whose debt troubles forced its parent company Dubai World to announce a shock debt delay last year, is struggling to negotiate terms with contractors who hold the keys to its many delayed projects.

“I think they are making a slow but steady progress in the completion of restructuring. They seem to keep on hitting milestones, though in a slow manner. Once the creditor’s debt situation is also resolved, that should help them turn their focus towards some of the pending projects,” said Hussain.

Nakheel is not alone. Dubai is continuously selling its offshore assets to pay off debts. The government is also taking up steps that may eventually lead to issuance of Sovereign Bonds.

From: Arabian Business