‘Complete stalled projects first’ – Hill Intl VP says
Mohammed Al Rais says Dubai should focus on completing stalled projects before embarking on new mega-projects
Dubai needs to complete stalled projects before it embarks on new projects such as the Mohammed bin Rashid City and the Business Bay Canal project, a leading construction expert has said.
Mohammed Al Rais, senior vice president and managing director of Hill International (Middle East), said that there were a lot of projects that needed to be completed, which would generate a ‘huge upturn’ in the real estate market.
“The pearl of Dubai’s investment and development, to me, is Business Bay. There are a lot of projects there that need to be completed. Once you have it completed, there will be a huge upturn in the market, in value at least,” he said during an interview with Big Project ME.
“The Mohammed Bin Rashid City is actually a continuation of Business Bay, while the Canal project, will link Business Bay with the other side (of Dubai). It was something that was discussed, from memory, almost eight years ago. But for some reason it was never taken up at that time.”
“What I’m trying to say is that I believe that there are gaps in Business Bay that should be taken care of, encouraged to be developed, so that at least then, you have the focal points of Dubai and then you can actually start continuing that process into the Mohammed Bin Rashid City,” he explained further.
“The focus should be on completing what is not done, by one way or the other, but mainly by through legislation and certain rules and bring back the private developers.”
Al Rais added that the move would help encourage smaller investors to come back into the market and that trust would be restored into the Dubai real estate market.
Dubai recently announced that it would be launching a number of mega projects such as Mohammed Bin Rashid City and the Canal Project in Business Bay. The city would be home to the world’s largest shopping mall, surpassing the current record holder, Dubai Mall, which is also located in the Downtown Dubai area.
