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Abu Dhabi's housing woes will ease in three years
The shortage of housing units in Abu Dhabi will ease within the next three years as projects under construction will provide new supply to the market, says an official.
- By Himendra Mohan Kumar, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:33 May 15, 2008
- Ali Ahmad Al Hosani, head of the programme-making section, Abu Dhabi Department of Municipality Affairs, talks about a project at the Cityscape exhibition being held at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre.
- Image Credit: Ravindranath/Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: The shortage of housing units in Abu Dhabi will ease within the next three years as projects under construction will provide new supply to the market, the executive director of Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council said on Wednesday.
"There will be 30,000 units built in Mohammad Bin Zayed City alone which is targeted at housing the middle class to balance supply in the market," Jamal Al Hosani told Gulf News at Cityscape Abu Dhabi. "As well, there are developments taking place all around Abu Dhabi by private developers that will ease the demand pressure," he added.
Al Hosani said there will be new areas in the Abu Dhabi city meant for the high-end of its population, while there are going to be places where there will be a mixture of high-end and middle income people living together.
To accommodate the growing number of its labour population, there will be new labour camps in the city of Abu Dhabi, he added.
"The Greater Abu Dhabi city is expected to cater to a population of 3.1 million people by the year 2030. The current population of the Abu Dhabi city is about 900,000," said Al Hosani.
Al Hosani said the Urban Planning Council is doing the final planning for the New Khalifa City that will become the capital district. It is located 25 kilometres away from the existing downtown.
The area of the new city will be 4,900 hectares, or 49 square kilometres, he added.
"Abu Dhabi is creating a new city centre in New Khalifa to relieve the pressure on the existing downtown, located at the northern tip of the Abu Dhabi island," said Al Hosani.
The new capital district will host the federal zone where all the federal ministries, federal institutions and bodies as well as embassies, diplomatic, residential, office and retail areas will be located, he added. There will also be a sports city, university complexes and a medical centre.
"The entire construction will be completed by 2030. Construction has already begun on the planned sports city in the area," said Al Hosani.
"The funding for the new capital district will be done by both the public and private sectors. No ballpark estimates for the cost of the new district can be given at this point in time," said Al Hosani.
He said there will be mass rapid transit system, an underground city metro and trams on the surface to cater to the needs of a 350,000-strong population in the district.
"There will be a fast train connecting the existing existing downtown of Abu Dhabi with the capital district, to the airport and all the way to Dubai and other emirates," Al Hosani added.
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