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Issue 2
Annual subscription Middle East Real Estate
Latest News from the Publishing House:

AIRLINE DISTRIBUTION !!!

Due to the signing of contracts in the last days, more than 10.000 copies are now distributed to this Top Target Audience. Business Travellers in the first and business class sections are powerful decision makers in business and industry and financially strong in private investments. Therefore advertising with us is an extraordinary stage to reach this top-class-clientele.
read more (05/2006, Middle East)
Al Gurm Resort
Luxury wrapped in Nature

The Al Gurm Resort will consist of a premier 161 room international luxury hotel, as well as 59 exclusive villas. It will offer visitors and residents endless opportunities to appreciate and enjoy the beauty and serenity of its surroundings, while providing guest and residential facilities that are truly unique. The luxury private villas will be in a variety of styles responsive to their natural habitat and tranquil setting. Some will have their own private beach. All will have their own private pool. Each will have its own boat jetty. Nine of them will be situated on their own private islands. Villa residents will be able to circulate and enjoy the natural habitat and tranquil environment through a network of boardwalks or through their own water borne transport. The 5 star hotel will be an island resort that will fully complement the villa development. It will provide a mix of stunning chalets on individual islands along with an array of all suite accommodation centred on a lagoon. The resort will have a health and fitness club, a spa and a number of premier boutiques. There will be three first class restaurants offering: Asian cuisine, seafood and all-day dining. The seafood restaurant will be the resort’s signature restaurant and it will be located on its own island that will be accessible only by boat.

Commenting on the announcement, ALDAR’s Chairman Ahmed Al Sayegh said: “Not only will this stunning hotel resort be an icon for Abu Dhabi that will significantly add to Abu Dhabi’s expanding tourism offer in line with the Government’s declared and welcomed initiative, but it also celebrates the launch of ALDAR’s hotel portfolio -- alongside our existing, and rapidly expanding, residential, commercial and amenity portfolios. We are therefore well on the way to providing our shareholders with a balanced and diverse portfolio to provide growth and realistic returns for their investment and faith in ALDAR. Construction work is now underway to deliver the resort to the world through a soft opening in early 2007, with the complement of villas following shortly thereafter. Discussions are well underway with a number of the world’s leading resort operators and we expect to make an announcement in this respect very shortly”. With environmental concerns in mind, ALDAR’s CEO Christopher Sims added: “We at ALDAR fully recognise the role of the mangroves in the heritage and environment of the UAE. Therefore, our development at Al Gurm Resort will preserve and enhance this natural environment by being a well-planned eco-friendly environment in line with our stated missions and visions of preserving the environment in all our developments”.

read more (05/2006, Middle East)
Island of the Golden Smiles – Kingdom of Bahrain
The independent emirate of Bahrain consists of a group of about 30 small islands which are located in the Gulf of Bahrain, an anabranch of the Persian Gulf between Saudi-Arabia and the peninsula of Qatar. The Islam is characterizing the culture of the country which has about 650.000 inhabitants. But the religious instructions in Bahrain are less dogmatic than in many other neighbouring states of the Persian Gulf.

Economic growth is on the upswing

Bahrain covers the smallest area of all GCC States (Gulf Cooperation Council) with marginal sources of oil and gas. Despite this fact the economic upswing is showing his first results. In 2006 experts calculate with an increase of 5-6% of the gross domestic product; further forecasts predict an economic upswing of 7% or more per year. The facts of establishing Bahrain as a regional financial centre and building up its own industry have caused constant economic growth. Products of refinery belong to the most important export goods. The heavy industries are closely related to the crude oil, which is conveyed off shore by Abu Safah partly from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has committed the utilisation to Bahrain. In 2004 Bahrain as the first GCC state signed a free trade agreement with the United States of America; therefore Bahrain gets severe criticism from Saudi Arabia. That is why Riyadh was obliged to shorten the conveyance capacity of the oil and gas industry of Bahrain.

Further on Bahrain is still focusing systematically on the expansion of the petrochemical industry. Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. is a well established manufacturer of fertilizing goods located in Bahrain whose production is growing in the last years. The lack of gas is deflating petrochemical investments. In 2002 Bahrain has antagonised this grievance by signing a declaration of intent with Qatar. The increase of the natural gas capacity has positive effect on the economic development of Bahrain. Now it´s possible to build a new petrochemical industry complex; the expansion into the aluminium industry with all its cost involved investments is also assured. With investments of 1 bill $ the harbour and the industry area “Hidd” should also be extended. Even a roller plant for high grade steel with a capacity of 90.000t per year belongs to new investments. With approximately 12% the processing trade of Bahrain plays an important role for the entire economic growth. Both the aluminium and the oil industry are each noticeable with a third to the whole economic growth.

Positive project developments

The building industry is reporting a big upswing. The biggest project is called “Durrat AL Bahrain” with a total value of 20 km² located in the South of the Bahrain. Nearly 13 artificial-built islands were made up especially for this project. 390 luxury mansions which were built during the first construction phase have already been sold out in January 2005. A commercial centre with a size of 20 ha is planned to be build in the financial harbour of Bahrain. Bigger projects like the Bahrain City Centre Mall, the Sheraton Hotel, the Al Dafna Al Hamra Resort, the AL-Areen Desert Spa&Resort and the King Hamad General Hospital with more than 300 beds are already in progress. The emirate is aiming to strengthen his position as a financial centre in the Middle East by establishing the Bahrain Financial Harbour. In 2009 the capital Manama will create a totally new district near Manama harbour which will offer bureaus and commercial properties with more than 380.000 m² to financially strong companies. This major project is financially measured with 1.3 Bill. $ and is exclusively supported by private investors.
read more (05/2006, Middle East)
Nakheel and his palms…
...we want to bring light into the dark!

What do you think, when you hear the word “Dubai”? – “Dubai -This is where the palm is built into the sea, right?” Not familiar to everybody is the fact, that it’s not only one palm which belongs to Nakheel´s projects. Meanwhile there exist three spectacular palm projects. Therefore we want to give you a closer look on each of the three projects.

Palm Jumeirah

The Palm Jumeirah is the pioneer project of the three palm islands and is used to be called the 8th world wonder. One hundred Mill. m³ of stones and sand have been moved to create this artificial island. In the meantime the first mansions and villas on the palm assuming a definite shape, which will be finished in the near future. The island is located very central between Ali Free Zone and Dubai City and offers an ideal traffic connection. In spite of its central location the Palm Jumeirah will be a place of silence and recreation on the highest lifestyle level. The sale of real estate objects started in January 2003. Within three weeks the whole project was completely sold out. In 2010 experts are forecasting that about 40 luxury hotels should annually attract millions of tourists from all over the world.

Palm Jebel Ali

In comparison to the other palm projects Palm Jebel Ali is the mid-sized palm. In particular the trunk and the crescent differ from the Jumeirah Palm project. Here are primarily touristic facilities as e.g. a recreational park with a giant swimming pool area intended to be built. A decent housing space is required because of the close neighbourhood to Jebel Ali Free Zone. Therefore a lot of apartments are planned to be built, located on a new applied ring around the palm. The exclusive singular Water Homes which should be built on stakes and having their own boat landing stage are characteristically for this project. In the near future you can find those buildings between the palm and the outside ring. Obviously the second palm island is already sold out. This fact approves the expectations of the investors with the result that the number of the prospective customers raises from day to day.

Palm Deira

The recent project of Nakheel is the largest of the three palms- the Palm Deira. With a length of approximately 14 km and altogether 80 km² the third palm is about three times longer than the first palm and larger than Manhattan. This enormous project with 41 palm leafs is planned to be built just in front of the old center of Dubai, more precisely, it is located in the district Deira which you can find in the East of Dubai Creek. To give you a general idea of this giant project and its dimensions here is a simple example: the size of one palm leaf differs from 850m till 3.400m. Beside mansions, semi-detached and terraced houses you can also find hotels, shopping centres, sport parks and many other leisure offers on the Palm Deira. The construction of the third palm has started; the first real estate areas have already been sold.

Status Quo

If you scroll down to the end of this site you can see some pictures which are documenting the progress of the constructions from different perspectives. The measurements of the two palm projects Jumeirah and Jebel Ali are so gigantic that even astronauts can see the shape of the palms with the naked eye from outer space. Jumeirah Palm is supposed to be finished in 2006; on Palm Jebel Ali the first mansions should be occupied on schedule in 2007. The asset completion of Palm Deira is planned in 2009.

There are a lot of varieties concerning the real estate homes. Starting with normal apartments and different types of mansions up to Garden Homes and Water Homes which are built on stakes in the sea. If you have a soft spot for luxurious and absolutely unusual real estate you should buy a real estate on one of the palms.
read more (05/2006, Middle East)
Ras Al Khaimah - Pure nature and gentle tourism
Endless sandy white beaches, mountains and a soaring economy

You can locate Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) in the North Eastern part of the VAE- attainable in only 40 minutes driving time apart from Dubai on the newly constructed highway. The versatility of the emirate is underlined by the blue sea with its endless white beaches. In contrast to the other emirates RAK has a beautiful mountain scape called Hajjar Mountains which arise till 2500m over sea level. Approximately 250.000 inhabitants are living nowadays in the emirate; common languages are Arabic and English. The Royal Family of Ras Al Khaimah bears the name Al Qasimi. Sheikh Saqr Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi is reining the emirate since1948. In 2003 his son, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi was crowned his successor. In the last year RAK has invested a lot to push the economy. Current example is the RAK Free Trade Zone which attracts more and more international investors. About 900 international companies from 44 countries have already settled down in the Free Trade Zone which consists of a business park, a technology centre and an industrial park. A large number of European companies have already taken advantage of the location. Oussama El Omari, Executive Member of the Management Board of the Free Zone regrets that they could not convince any Germany company to benefit from the benefits. “We still have to learn how to activate German entrepreneurs more efficiently because they are well known for their precise project management and their reliable work. The RAK is planning to build his own tourism-infrastructure; an international airport already exists. In spite of the never ending gigantism of Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah is supposed to realise a more decent and “gentle” tourism. Beside new holiday resorts and several mansion districts, the theme “sports” is also of great significance. They even got a golf course where you can play Late Night Golf by night. Furthermore there are already two luxury hotels, the Hilton and the Al Hamra.

The capital of the emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, is divided by a creek. The Western part is called “old Ras Al Khaimah” and primarily exists of government buildings, educational institutions, shopping malls and hotel resorts. The Eastern part is bearing the name “Al Nakheel”; here you can find e.g. the “Ras Al Khaimah Exhibition Centre”, hospitals and the major number of the urban council estates. A large bridge and an excellent road network connect both parts of the city. The government of Ras Al Khaimah attaches great importance to the history and culture of their country. That is the reason why the Julfar Port from the 7th century is still playing a significant role. Even the situation of adult education and academic affairs of the youth has improved essentially by building well-equipped schools and educational facilities. Additionally RAK will launch trend-setting projects which should establish the modern spirit and the State-of-the-Art technology. Al Hamra Village, the Cove, Saraya Islands and several projects of RAK properties e.g. Julfar Towers, are only a few of the most considerable projects. So you can be anxious to the economic development of Ras Al Khaimah compared to its “bigger brothers” e.g. Dubai and Qatar.

read more (05/2006, Middle East)
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