The world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai ready for soft launch in September

The world's tallest man-made structure, will see a "soft opening" on Sept. 9 this year in tandem with the launch of Dubai Metro.The groundbreaking for Burj Dubai took place in Sept. 2004 and was originally slated for completion by late 2008.

The building is part of the 2 km2 (0.8 sq mi) development called "Downtown Burj Dubai" at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road at Financial Centre Road (previously known as Doha Street). The tower's architect is Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006.The Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm SOM is in charge of the project. The primary builders are Samsung Engineering & Construction and Besix along with Arabtec.Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction manager.
The total budget for the Burj Dubai project is about US$4.1 billion, and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US$20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Dubai had reached $4,000 per sq ft (over $43,000 per m2) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Dubai, were selling for US$3,500 per sq ft (over $37,500 per m2).

New visa law 'soon' for Dubai property buyers

A new law that would clarify the rules on issuing residency visas to property buyers in Dubai could be introduced this year, it was reported on Wednesday.

Business leaders say they have raised the issue with government officials who have told them that new regulations will be brought in "soon".

"We believe this has to be cleared. We raised it to the government and the government came back and said there is a law that will come very soon and we feel it has to come," said Hamad Buamim, director general of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry."The law will clarify who deserves a visa in terms of their investment in the real estate. We don't know when it will be out but the government says it will be soon. I think soon means within this year," he told the paper.

Previously, most real estate advertisements boasted of 99-year visa for purchase of freehold property but officials say such guarantees are not within the jurisdiction of any property firm.


Dubai: In a bid to improve the conditions of labourers, the UAE is set to introduce new rules regarding their accommodation and a mechanism for electronic payment of their salaries.

"Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of UAE, will sign a draft resolution on criteria for workers' accommodation," Labour Minister Saqr Ghobash said on Monday. "The requirements will be circulated to all municipalities across the country so as to enforce them on housing facilities of workers," the minister told a seminar on Labour and Human Rights here. "The criteria will provide adequate hygienic and humane conditions for the comfort of workers. The government will not accept less than those conditions," he affirmed.

The minister said electronic payment of workers' salaries will be implemented in the next few weeks. "This will be made possible through a joint initiative between the ministry, banks, money exchange houses and the Central Bank of the UAE," he said. "The project, a core element in the ministry's strategy, will prevent delays in payment of salaries. About 500,000 workers will benefit from this project, he said.

Gobash also announced the Ministry had issued 662,000 labour cards and cancelled 405,000 in the six months from October 2008 up to March 2009. "This means incoming workers continued to outnumber departing peers. The workforce rose by 27 and 32 per cent in 2007 and 2008 respectively," he said.

Gowealthy Capital to launch four funds worth $435m

Gowealthy Capital Limited, an investment company registered with Dubai International Financial Centre, will facilitate the launch of four funds worth $435 million (Dh1.6 billion) in the second and third quarters of 2009, a senior company executive said yesterday."We have been retained to facilitate and launch four funds worth $435m in the second and the third quarters. Three will be launched on behalf of listed and private developers," said Peter Penhall, Senior Executive Officer, Gowealthy Capital.The funds will focus on acquiring assets in Dubai with emphasis on business-to-business transactions. "We are looking at striking a business-to-business deal and purchase of a portion of the development, depending on its nature and the size. It will be a mix of offices, residential, etc so as to diversify the risk. However, we will not be buying land or plots," he said.The firm has two private trading funds worth Dh38m under management.Asked what kind of returns will the company offer to investors, Penhall said: "The funds, which will be structured around the class of each asset, will give a very attractive return. It will certainly be well above the financial returns that are available in the general market."Gowealthy Capital further plans to roll out a fund every quarter, Penhall said. "At this point of time, we are only looking at three funds and that it is our limit unless something exceptional comes up. Our plan is to launch a fund on a quarterly basis."The company has been attracting lot of interest from other parties who wish to enter or launch real estate funds. "We see a strong interest from people who either are looking at creating their own funds, or looking at appoint asset managers who will assist them in creating funds," he said.According to Penhall, the funds will not buy any "distressed" assets, and will only target "quality" assets. "We are not looking at buying any distressed assets. Our goal is not to enter the market for a short-term gain, our primary goal is to buy quality, income-producing assets that will show a good healthy capital growth," he said.Among the four a $110m fund will be targeting the warehousing and distribution facilities. "Dubai World Central is coming on-stream and Dubai is positioning itself as a distribution hub in the Middle East. So it offers us a natural opportunity."Penhall believes the limiting factor for such a fund is the prevalent short-term leases. "That is not attractive for the fund. So what we intend to do is to structure long-term leases through sale and lease-back opportunities with clients," he added.Gowealthy Capital has no plans to list any of the funds on Nasdaq Dubai since they lack "critical mass". "They are very small in size and you need a fund of $300m to $500m to make it viable for listing as the cost of servicing is quite high." he said.Gowealthy operates under a Category 3 asset management licence, which permits it to trade in a number of financial instruments besides operation of collective investment funds.

Escape, Ajman’s 200 acre equestrian community has received approval from Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Agency

March 2, 2009, Ajman, UAE: Escape, Ajman’s 200 acre equestrian community has received all required official approvals from the emirate’s recently-established Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Agency (ARERA). Moving ahead with the development’s overall construction timeline, Escape is now in the final negotiations stage to award the villa construction contract, the final decision will be announced shortly.
“I believe that with the establishment of ARERA property buyers will have more confidence in purchasing property and in Ajman itself,” said Anwer Sher, General Manager of Escape LLC. “It’s an excellent move for the emirate. Any regulation in the market that safeguards the interest of home buyers and investors is critical at this time,” he continued.
Sher pointed out that Escape worked quickly and efficiently to answer to ARERA’s call to action, and has in fact maintained a fully functioning corporate office headquarters in downtown Ajman, well before the Agency dictated that all Ajman developers must have an official presence in the emirate.
“In accordance with the new legislation, Escape has established escrow accounts for all home buyers, and additionally maintains a state of the art Customer Service Centre which employs a team of bilingual consultants. Furthermore, we recently introduced a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programme designed exclusively for the real estate sector making us the first developer in Ajman to enable and encourage direct one on one communication with our investors”, said Sher.
“As a local developer, we took a differentiating lead in launching our CRM Programme. We felt it important to be able to talk directly with our customers and receive their feedback or address their concerns in the recent market downturn,” said Aadil Sher, Sales and Customer Service Manager for Escape.
The landmark equestrian lifestyle community which was launched in January 2008, has kept to a rigorous development schedule. The project team approved all architectural designs well in advance, and already confirmed contracts for residential flooring, kitchens and fittings. Bulk earthworks on site were completed the end of last year, and Escape Management is concluding negotiations with villa contractors who were invited to tender. The contract award is ‘imminent’, and it ‘wont’ be long till actual construction work starts on site,’ according to Anwer Sher.
Consisting of villas, duplexes, apartments, as well as a luxury boutique hotel, the HoofbeatZ™ Clubhouse, a sports hall, an equine spa, and a full complement of equestrian facilities, Escape is located off the Emirates Road, on the border of Sharjah and Ajman, and is conveniently located near to major business hubs in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Escape’s ARERA registration number is 40453.

Gowealthy Capital Ltd started functioning

Gowealthy Capital Limited is an investment company registered with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and regulated by Dubai Financial Security Authority (DFSA). Gowealthy Capital Ltd operates under a “Category 3” asset management license permitting trade in a number of financial instruments apart from its core activity, that being the Operation of Collective Investment Funds. It is a specialist service provider to the Real Estate industry – strategically focusing on the Asset Management component deliverables and will be instrumental in the establishment of a number of real estate funds