Dubai - Nakheel merges with DMCC property arm

Nakheel the state-owned developer of Dubai's palm-tree shaped man-made islands, has been merged with the property wing of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), a newspaper said on Monday.

source ArabianBusiness

"DMCC's property-related operations have been integrated with Nakheel to better accomodate current market conditions and optimise resources and expertise," a DMCC spokesman told The National.

Both companies are owned by Dubai World, which is in turn controlled by the Dubai government.
Nakheel said last month it received funds from Dubai's government, some of which will be used to pay contractors as it looks to complete projects.

Dubai sold $10bn of bonds to the UAE Central Bank earlier this year to raise funds to support state-linked companies suffering from the financial crisis, and plans to issue another $10bn in bonds later this year.

The emirate's once-booming real estate sector is suffering a sharp slowdown as prices have collapsed, developers slow or cancel projects and jobs are slashed.

HSBC said in a report on Sunday prices were stabilising but values could fall further.

Slumping demand would drag residential real estate prices in Dubai down between 50 and 60 percent this year from their 2008 peaks, EFG-Hermes said last month. (Reuters)

Huge Delay - DMCCA - Jumeirah Lake Towers master developer encounters some ground realities

JLT master developer encounters some ground realities
By Nicole Walter, Senior Features Writer

original Published:

http://www.propertyweekly.ae/articles/this_issue/20009436.html

Caught between a 'lake' and a hard place is DMCCA, the master developer of Jumeirah Lakes Towers. It is a situation that DMCC is trying to get out off as it tries to find enough space available for construction activity to take place, but without hampering the movements of those residents at the completed towers.

"Any time you mix construction traffic with personal traffic it's a challenge," states Bryan Wilson, DMCC's Executive Director Property Development. "It's great to be the first person in, but means a lot of time having to compromise on living conditions until construction is completed."

DMCC had earlier allowed construction vehicles access to the sites where the four 'lakes' would be as a way of keeping them off the roads and clogging up traffic. But now, they are driving on the boundary roads.

"Maybe with a different master-plan you could have done something different, but we have the lakes in the middle," adds Wilson. "The owners feel it is time to focus on the landscaping as people have moved in — so we had to move people out of the lakes."

This has increased the chance of residents crossing paths with construction vehicles. "We've assessed the situation after hearing some complaints and decided to put in temporary lighting to make it safer, as safety is our number one priority for construction workers and residents," Wilson comments.
The four lakes
There are four lakes in JLT: Almas East & West, Elucio and Allure, each supplied by seawater via a sophisticated circulation system. The Elucio will be completed by year-end.

JLT towers come in trios set around the lakes. "We need a cluster of three to be out of the ground to a certain extent to begin the work around them," Wilson informs. "The closing of the landscaping tender package is imminent and what follows will change the feel and look of JLT from a construction site to actually becoming a liveable community.

"There are 14 towers with approval at different stages of occupation. We're now transitioning from around half a construction site and a quarter community to a community by end 2010 when all towers are completed."

There are to be 79 towers in JLT proper and another eight on its embankment. Master planned by Nakheel and taken over by DMCC two-and-a-half years ago, JLT's completion cannot come fast enough as far as Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DMCC's Executive Chairman, is concerned.

"Completion within three years would have been the best scenario for me but each developer faces his own challenges in the construction market," Bin Sulayem notes. "They may have several towers in JLT that they have to manage, so we are putting pressure on them to complete construction as soon as possible.

"We get all kinds of excuses and I can't accept them, especially that we have now moved into our building (Almas). JLT is a prime location, they are not going to find another plot on Shaikh Zayed Road within the next six years — this is the heart of New Dubai where everyone wants to be."

Infrastructure issues

Half of the roads circling Jumeirah Lakes Towers are part of the western-perimeter network project, which is undertaken by the RTA.

"That's out of our control, they have awarded the contract but have one-and-a-half years to finish the roads," says Bryan Wilson of DMCC. "We can't wait for them to finish, so we put up our own temporary measures in the interim."

As regards Internet connectivity for the cluster's residents, DMCC is intent on offering residents a choice, a first in Dubai. "I want practicality for our end-users. I believe that is what Dubai, like Palm Deira is also looking at," says Ahmed Bin Sulayem. "They manage in other countries, so there is no reason why they can't manage here."

Du was supposed to be the sole provider. "We have Etisalat and Du now in one room pressuring them to execute and agreement to share the infrastructure within JLT," affirms Wilson.

Dubai - The purchase of a freehold property does not qualify for a resident visa

original published GulfNews
http://archive.gulfnews.com/business/Real_Estate_Property/10216379.html

Buyers of freehold properties in Dubai are accusing developers of depriving them of 'promised' residence visas - a tool some developers still use to lure investors.

Developers are passing the buck to master developers Nakheel, Emaar and Dubai Properties.
Residents of International City's Riviera District are worried that there is a breach of contract since the residency visas have not been issued as contractually promised over a year ago.

One resident said, "We feel there has been a breach of contract somewhere as we have not been sold what we were told at the outset."

Registration
According to residents, the developer of the Riviera Lakeview Apartments, B&M, has been involved in a dispute with master developer Nakheel over registration, and this has delayed visa proceedings.

However, an official at B&M said that residents must understand that they cannot have residency visas until their units have been officially registered with the Land Department and the title deeds produced.

We have approached the Land Department for the registration. Nakheel says the units have to be registered first and then they will provide the residency visas," Abdul Samad, deputy general manager of B&M, said.

Another source said that there had been internal confusion in the Land Department regarding the wording of the registration, which has delayed the entire process.

There was an internal dispute within the Land Department over whether the units should be registered as net area or gross area," he said.

The source said the Land Department finally chose to use the net area, meaning all investors had to be notified again and measurements redone.

There are 221 units in the Riviera Lakeview Apartments, all pending registration. "Upon the purchase of a Nakheel property, we will provide customers the basis for sponsorship, although the grant of a residency visa is still subject to the rules, requirements and procedures of the Immigration and Naturalisation Department," a Nakheel spokesperson said.

Samad said the whole registration process should be resolved in "a matter of months".
A resident of Central Business District 21, also located in International City, is also still waiting for his title deeds and residency visa.

He said, "I don't think they [master developers] had any idea what they were getting themselves into.

A statement from Emaar said, Emaar Properties provides residency visas for Emaar homeowners in line with the rules and regulations of the Dubai Department of Naturalisation and Residency Department."

Officials of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department - the visa issuing authority - were unavailable for comment.


Rules How it works

Freehold ownership in selected areas of Dubai was first introduced in May 2002, sparking the real estate boom.

The law states,
"If the homeowner has no alternative means of sponsorship for a residence visa, the first owner may be sponsored by your master developer [Nakheel, Dubai Properties or Emaar] for residency in Dubai, UAE, subject to the applicable immigration laws of the country."

The purchase of a freehold property apparently does not automatically qualify for a resident visa, officials say.

Mohammad Bin Braik, chief operating of Dubai Properties Group, said, "Resident visas for freehold buyers are subject to conditions which include that you cannot seek employment or run a business and one would assume the buyer has sufficient funds to support himself."

Blair Hagkull, managing director for the Middle East at Jones Lang LaSalle, said people should not rely on the master developer for their residency visas. "
Most people in Dubai are active in the workplace and so have a residency visa through their employer. But there is a select group which is not active.

Dubai property market beset by fraud claims

Malaysia Sun

Claims of scams, fraud, and embezzlement are hitting the real estate market in Dubai.

The multi-billion dollar construction craze which has attracted investors from all over the world, has seemingly brought in unsavoury types who have been preying on the never-ending appetites of locals and foreigners lining up to invest in the market.A UK company which claimed to have acquired a 900-apartment plot in the proposed Jumeriah Village project, has reportedly sold off apartments in the plot, with no prospect of them ever being built.
The company, Strategic Property Investment, and its associates, William Cowe and Mark Emlick, are being investigated by Dubai and UK authorities.

Dubai authorities are also investigating the mysterious Al Areifi Tower being constructed at Dubai Marina. As we reported several weeks ago, Khalid Saud Al-Areifi & Partner Co., of Riyadh Saudi Arabia, sold several hundred apartments in the project off-the-plan some years ago, taking full payment upfront.In recent weeks the owners of the apartments have been receiving telephone calls and faxes from Al Areifi representatives in Saudi Arabia advising them construction on the project had stopped and would not be resumed.

Investors say they have been offered their original cost, plus interest, back. We have sighted one of the letters sent which verifies the investors' claims.When we visited the site two weeks ago we found construction in full swing. We contacted the builder on site who confirmed there had been no disruption to the construction and it was proceeding at 'full steam.'Reports are now circulating that Al Areifi sold the site to the newly-formed, Abu Dhabi-based, Eskan Properties.

A report in Gulf News , however quotes a company spokesman as saying, 'We sold the tower on again a week back.'
Having bought their apartments and paid for them in full, well before construction started, investors are now wondering how 'their' apartments could be on-sold, on two separate occasions since.

Several calls to Emaar Properties, the master developer of Dubai Marina, where the project is sited, have not been returned.

Meantime the investigation into the conduct of the former CEO of Dubai's second largest property developer, Deyaar, has been widened.
According to Dubai's Attorney General, Essam al-Humaidan, a second person, Ganesan Krishna Kumar, 49, has been arrested in connection with the investigation. Kumar, originally from India, was a co-founder, and is managing director, of the Dubai-based advertizing agency, Masterbrand (ME) Ltd.,Two other men have also been detained and questioned, but have since been released. Zack Shahin, Deyaar's ex-CEO is being probed in relation to claims of possible embezzlement. Deyaar has more than 1,600 apartments, as well as retail, and office complexes, under construction in Dubai.

The glitz and glamour of Dubai's red-hot property market must be feeling the heat of the latest troubles, coming on top of the debacle surrounding the Damac project on the Palm Jebel Ali.
Damac, which claims to be the largest private property developer in the Middle East, sold apartments off-the-plan in what it called the Palm Springs project, a luxury apartments and resort project on the Palm at Jebel Ali.

Four years after launching the project, Damac wrote to investors saying it had been abandoned as the master developer of the Palm had changed the plans and the project could not now fit the site.Within days the master developer, Nakheel, announced it was unaware of Damac's claims, and that the changes which Damac referred to had been made ten months earlier, and Damac was happy with them.

A hastily convened meeting by the authorities, involving Damac and Nakheel, resolved the matter, with Damac agreeing to proceed with the project. That action averted a class-action lawsuit against Damac by at least sixty angry investors, most of whom were from the UK

Comments

Comments on this story

By adel, 04-26-08, 02:31 AM
An advice on Duabai real estate marketI want to give a little advice to prospective investors in Dubai. Ignore those fantastic property offerings, with incredibly low prices and very long-term and low-cost finance. Believe me guys, the price of cunstruction material and labour, rents, oil...etc have made such projects unviable. Such projects are not economically viable anymore and the little investor will, at the end, lose his or her investment. Watch out !

By Anonymous, 04-24-08, 10:03 PM

Dubai property market beset by fraud claimsI have an apartment in this project which I bought off the plan and paid for in full. As far as I am concerned I am the owner and here I read my apartment has been sold to somebody else, twice! What is going on here? And what about the mighty Emaar. They are overall responsible. Surely they can’t sell these plots off to fraudsters like this and not even answer the phone???? Investors like me just sit out here and get these scraps of information from the news media (thanks! I’m not having a go at you, without you I wouldn’t even know I was being pick-pocketed). Where are the authorities? They shouldn’t just be investigating Deyaar they should be investigating Al Areifi.

By Anonymous, 04-25-08, 05:07 PM

Dubai should act against scamsWhere there is a lot of money the smarties arrive to scam the punters. This al areifi crowd have really done a number on people. The Dubai government shouldn’t stand back and let them get away with it. Selling all the apartments to individuals and then selling the whole building to somebody else is just straight forward theft and fraud. The Saudi Arabian authorities should act as well because this is a Saudi company. What confidence can people have in these gulf markets when this sort of nonsense goes on?

By Anonymous, 04-25-08, 08:09 PM

Few bad apples doesn't mean you throw out the whole caseYes there are scams and frauds in Dubai, just as there are everywhere. Mostly though I think investment in theis place is safe. The government needs to stamp out the bad guys because it affects how people perceive the market.

By Anonymous, 04-28-08, 01:50 PM

These thugs have to be stopped. Whilst these guys are living the lavish lifestyle, we are repaying our loans to pay for them to do so. I am still pursuing these people and find it a huge disappointment that UAE have no laws against this or protection for people who invest from abroad. It was particualrly enlightening that these guys are residing at one of the sheikhs hotels.. Does that mean he thinks all of this is ok?????