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As
Dubai continues to expand at a rapid pace, the latest
chapter in the city’s incredible success story is
starting to unfold with the creation of Dubai Waterfront
- an entire new city-within-a-city spanning 81 million
square metres between the Jebel Ali Hotel and the Abu
Dhabi border.
The massive
project, which is bigger than Manhattan in size, was
announced earlier this year by Dubai Crown Prince and
UAE Defence Minister, HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, who said Dubai Waterfront is destined
to become an international landmark on the last
remaining coastal waterfront of the emirate.
“Dubai Waterfront centres around water, something we
consider perpetually valuable and precious,” Sheikh
Mohammed said. “It is an unprecedented advancement and a
world-class addition to Dubai, one which will create
long term growth and investment for the UAE and the
wider region.”
Dubai Waterfront forms the first phase of a larger
project, the Arabian Canal - a 75 km development
envisioned by Sheikh Mohammed – and forms the primary
entrance and ‘gateway’ to the canal, which will
ultimately provide further long-term waterfront
investment opportunities.
The whole Dubai Waterfront site has been master planned
by Nakheel, which has already begun selling plots to
select investors and property developers in its first
phase, Madinat Al Arab - a thriving urban downtown
metropolis, which will include one of the world’s
tallest buildings, Al Burj, and forms the ‘heart and
soul’ of the development.
Khaled Issa Al Huraimel, general manager of the Madinat
Al Arab component of Dubai Waterfront, said the project
has already caught the attention of investors, with the
whole of phase one snapped up within five days of going
on sale in mid-July.
“The demand
was much higher than we could actually supply,” he
explained. “At this stage we are only selling land, with
Dh 13 billion worth of plots sold in five days to select
investors and major developers, mostly from the UAE and
GCC.
“Basically,
we have released a proportion of the prime land in phase
one as it is all sea facing. We will be releasing the
other phases for sale later on in the year, and early
next year.“
Once
complete, Dubai Waterfront is expected to become home to
up to 750,000 people and will be a completely
self-sustained city, complete with shops, offices,
residences, schools, mosques, parks, hospitals, police
stations, resorts, a marina, public beaches and golf
courses.
“The first
phase has residential, resort, commercial and retail
components, so it is mixed-use with different densities
- from 10-storey buildings up to 50-plus,” Mr
Al Huraimel said. “The
first phase also has a harbour, a marina and Al Burj,
which will be located facing the harbour in Madinat Al
Arab.”
Dubai’s
real estate sector has boomed since it was announced
that expatriates can now own freehold property in the
emirate, but Dubai Waterfront holds extra appeal for
investors.
“This is
the last natural waterfront in Dubai,” Mr
Al Huraimel explained. “It
is one of the last opportunities to own natural land
facing the sea.”
Nakheel
employed a consortium of the world’s best architects,
planners and urban developers to ensure the project
becomes an international landmark. Utilising mostly
empty land, the site is essentially a blank canvas for
one of the world’s largest waterfront developments.
“We are
creating a new city in Dubai and have the opportunity to
lay down the infrastructure from day one – to have it
properly planned and create one of the world’s best
cities to live in, to work in, and to visit,” Mr
Al Huraimel said. “We
have worked with many leading architects, with people
from the marine side, and from the transportation side,
so everything was fully co-ordinated in producing the
master plan.
“Sometimes
projects are launched at the concept stage and the
detail comes later on. The difference with Dubai
Waterfront is that we have been master planning this for
the past two years and had the detail available to
investors right from day one of the launch. They were
very impressed by the amount of information and detail
made available at such an early stage, which is another
of the reasons why demand has been so high.
“For
example, we have done proper planning in terms of the
placement and height of buildings to maximise the sea
view, and you are looking at 500,000-750,000 people
living in the Dubai Waterfront, so we had to look very
carefully at the traffic and road system. We will be
introducing a one-way system to ease the traffic flow,
which I don’t think has been done in Dubai before.”
The
construction of a new international airport at Jebel
Ali, the forthcoming opening of The Palm Jebel Ali, and
now the Dubai Waterfront project, means a whole new
dimension is being added to the emirate of Dubai.
Consequently, Mr Al Huraimel
does not believe it will be a hard sell to encourage
people to live 35km to the south west of the
existing city.
“That’s
what people used to say a few years ago when projects
started happening around the Dubai Media City and Dubai
Internet City area,” he said. “But you can see business
is moving forward and the city is expanding to meet the
demand of what is expected in Dubai. If you look at the
population growth and tourist increases there is not
enough supply in the market, so we are looking at
meeting that supply later on.”
The whole
Dubai Waterfront project is expected to take around 10
years to complete, but Madinat Al Arab should be ready
in 3-5 years with Nakheel providing the infrastructure,
in the form of serviced land, to developers, as well as
constructing its own projects within the development,
such as Al Burj.
“Madinat Al
Arab will be anchored by Al Burj, one of the world’s
tallest buildings, that will spiral towards the sky
forming a centrepiece that embodies the ambition, vision
and magnitude of the development,” Mr
Al Huraimel said. “Al
Burj is not just one of the towers in Madinat Al Arab -
it will be an iconic building for Dubai and the Dubai
Waterfront.” | 
