Major Ras Al Khaimah property scheme part-suspended

Country:  Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

13 October 2009

The developer behind Ras Al Khaimah’s first man-made islands, RAK Properties PJSC, has announced that it is to part-suspend the 12bn dirham (£2.2bn) project until the Ras Al Khaimah property market improves.

Construction work on parts of Mina Al Arab, a beach resort in the northern part of the UAE, that have not yet been sold will be stopped, according to Mohammed Sultan Al Qathi, the company’s chief executive officer. He said that a marina, a shopping centre and seven hotels are among those projects to be put on hold.

“We were dreaming of having 11 hotels; now we will go with maybe four,” Al Qathi told the press. “If the market improves, we will go ahead and build that.”

The global financial turmoil has seen demand for property in UAE slump in the past year or so, causing around 400 hundred UAE property projects, worth around £200bn, to be put on hold or cancelled, according to a recent report from the Proleads Group.

See Also:   Al Khaimah, RAK Properties PJSC