Cityscape: $5.4bn Sharjah Waterfront City officially launched
Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Development has signed agreements for two hotels to be part of the upcoming project
Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Development has signed a series of agreements for its AED20 billion ($5.4bn) Sharjah Waterfront City project, which launched on Wednesday at Cityscape Global 2015.
The developer of the project, which will comprise of 10 islands, said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shaza Hotels, an affiliate of Kempinski, for the Shaza – Sharjah Waterfront City property. The hotel will be a five-star property consisting of 300 rooms and 350 serviced apartments.
An agreement has also been signed for The Dusit – Sharjah Waterfront City to be part of the ambitious waterfront development. It will feature 200 hotel rooms and 200 serviced residences.
Construction of both hotels is expected to start by the last quarter of 2016, and the properties are set to open to the public in 2019.
“We have launched Sharjah Waterfront City keeping in line with Sharjah’s development plans to attract 10 million visitors to the emirate by 2021,” said Hayssam El Masri, president of Sharjah Oasis Real Estate. “These robust plans will increase demand for residential and commercial units as well as hotels, especially in prime locations that offer all modern facilities.”
Sharjah Oasis Real Estate also announced a partnership with Invest Bank for funding the project. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties has been signed to fund the first phase, scheduled for completion in Q3 2018.
“After carefully assessing the project, we realised the potential and the impact it will have on the community in Sharjah,” said Sami Rashid Farahat, GM of Invest Bank. “Currently we are funding the first phase of the project. We are also considering the possibility of financing the remaining phases, and to finance the Sharjah Waterfront City end users subject to the bank’s terms and conditions.”
The Sharjah Waterfront City is a mixed-use project spread across 36km of coastline, with a total area of 60 million sq. ft.
Construction of phase one of the project will begin in the fourth quarter of this year. The first two phases, comprising hospitality, commercial and residential elements, will be built at a total cost of AED9.35 billion ($2.5 billion). One of the highlights of the upcoming development will be the 1.5 million sq. ft. Crystal Lagoon water theme park.
In terms of construction progress, the master plan for all ten islands on the project is complete. Infrastructure works are ongoing, and two sub stations are currently being built to meet the project’s electricity needs. Meanwhile, Darwish Engineering has begun construction work for interconnecting the islands via bridges.
