Gulf developer plans projects for Abu Dhabi's wealthy

Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia-based real estate investment and development company, Land Saudi Arabia, which is developing mixed-use projects in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan cumulatively worth more than $20 billion, is eyeing Abu Dhabi as a potential destination for developing projects, a senior company executive said on Wednesday.

"We recently established our office in Abu Dhabi. Though we have identified a lot of lands here, we haven't yet concluded any deals," Nasri S. El-Helou told Gulf News.

"We are targeting good investment opportunities in prime areas of Abu Dhabi. We want to cater to the needs of the elite segment of the population in the emirate, the high-end users," El-Helou added. "As far as our investments here are concerned, we are open. There is no ceiling for our investments."

High returns

El-Helou said the return on investment for property developers in Abu Dhabi is good, despite rising development costs.

"There are a lot of opportunities in here and the profit-margins are particularly high," he said.

El-Helou said his company is also looking at the property markets in Eastern Europe and Russia.

"We may soon announce projects in Romania and Russia," he said, adding that a project in Ramallah, Palestine is also proposed.

He said The Land has partly delivered their project in Jordan, while one tower out of the proposed 17 to be built on Qatar's Pearl Island will be delivered by December this year.

"We are also going to develop Perlita Island in Qatar where we are planning a residential and tourist project. As well, we will build an office project in Qatar's Energy City," said El-Helou.

In Saudi Arabia, he said their SR6.5 billion Ajmakan residential and commercial project on the edge of the Hanifa Valley in Riyadh has started.

"We will deliver the project over the next four years. It will be done in phases," El-Helou added.