Nakheel is in talks with two more potential joint venture partners for resort hotels at its Deira Islands project, which will conclude “hopefully this year”, the chairman of the Dubai developer said on Sunday.
Nakheel has retained the larger plots along a six-kilometre stretch of beach linking the first two islands under development at the site for resorts, but has been leasing 94 smaller plots of between 50,000 and 670,000 square feet to hotel and serviced apartment operators at other waterfront locations. Agreements for 35 of these have already been signed.
“All of the resort plots we are trying to keep for Nakheel and have JVs with interested parties,” Ali Rashid Lootah said. “We already signed two and we have two more in the pipeline. We have more.”
In total, it is planning to build five resort hotels at Deira Islands.
Mr Lootah also said that the 5,300-unit, Dh1.57 billion night souq being built alongside a promenade facing the existing Deira shoreline will be ready for traders to fit out their units in the first half of 2018, with the project opening to the public by the end of next year.
These sit on a 2km-long, 400 metre-wide site and will be accompanied by 96 cafes and restaurants. The night souq has been fully let and will generate rents of about Dh300 million a year.
“The rate we leased it at was very attractive,” Mr Lootah said. “People know what the rate is in Deira, so people who had a vision – they jumped on it.”
Currently there are close to 3,000 people working on the night souq site, where Unec is main contractor. A further 220 people are working for contractor Van Oord on coastal works, which will be ready by July. Early infrastructure works have already been completed, while second phase works involving utilities will be completed next year on Island A and by 2019 on Island B.
Nakheel said that it has already awarded Dh3bn worth of contracts to date, with more expected soon. Bids to build its Dh4bn Deira Islands Mall need to be submitted by contractors today and a tender inviting contractors to bid for work at its Dh5bn Deira Islands Boulevard site containing 16 residential towers for lease was issued last month.
In total, the four islands at the project will contain over 15.3 square kilometres of land. However, only the two closest to Deira’s corniche are currently under development – the 5.1 sq km Island A and the 3.2 sq km Island B – with a view to them being ready by the end of 2020.
Dredging and reclamation works for Island C – the biggest at over 6.7 sq km and Island D have been carried out, but as yet there is no start date for their development. “It’s a future plan,” Mr Lootah said. “We’re focusing with the first two.”
When eventually complete, Deira Islands will add a further 40km of coastline (21km of which will be beaches) to Dubai’s waterfront. It is expected that 250,000 people will live on the islands, which will be home to 6 million sq ft of Nakheel-developed retail space.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
Barcelona 3
Messi (27’, 32’, 87’)
Leganes 1
El Zhar (68’)
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Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
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Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
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Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Brief scores:
Pakistan (1st innings) 181: Babar 71; Olivier 6-37
South Africa (1st innings) 223: Bavuma 53; Amir 4-62
Pakistan (2nd innings) 190: Masood 65, Imam 57; Olivier 5-59
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
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