Emaar Properties yesterday signed a deal with Dubai World Central to develop a residential project where Expo 2020 will take place.
The new development will be built on an area of 13.63 million square metres, Emaar said.
The first phase of the Dubai project will include a villa community by a golf course, several hotels and a mall, the developer added.
“[Expo is] expected to welcome more than 25 million visitors during the six months’ period. It is important that the city further builds its retail, hospitality and residential facilities to meet the anticipated demand,” said Mohamed Alabbar, the chairman of Emaar.
Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report that the Expo 2020 win would likely be a catalyst to Al Maktoum International Airport, which started its passenger services in October.
A Metro extension to the Red Line, an increased conference space, as well as developments to the logistics hub in the area are all long-term benefits to hosting Expo 2020, the report added.
Dubai’s economy is also expected to be given a huge boost over the next seven years, as Expo 2020 is expected to add 2 per cent to its GDP as well as creating 277,000 jobs.
However, analysts warned of excessive price growth or over-development in the short term, which could lead to a bubble.
In October, Emaar reported a 50 per cent rise in third-quarter profits helped by more than six million visitors to The Dubai Mall every month. Its net income rose to Dh581 million from Dh387m a year earlier.
Shares of Emaar yesterday closed up 0.14 per cent after reaching a 52-week high of Dh7.04.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
Mountain%20Boy
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
