Dubai : Dubai's Meydan Group yesterday said it will help build a horse racing facility in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
Meydan will join hands with Chinese and Malaysian companies in building the Tianjin Horse City.
The International Equine Group (IEG), the flagship investment arm of Meydan Group, and Teo A. Khing Design Consultants (TAK), the Malaysian firm, will be responsible for financing and investing in Tianjin Horse City.
The proposed development, inspired by the success of Meydan City, which resembles a phoenix will cost $4 billion (Dh14 billion). The phoenix symbolises prosperity to the Chinese, said Teo Ah Khing, the project's managing director.
In comparison, Dubai's Meydan City is a $10 billion multi-phased development that will result in a township in Nad Al Sheba area.
Tianjin Horse City will also cover 3 million square metres which will be provided by the Chinese government, Khing said in a press conference yesterday. The project will include a five- to seven-star hotel, a clubhouse, commercial offices and residential facilities, in addition to an equestrian college, feedstuff plant, a breeding base, a horse hospital and a quarantine centre.
The construction, which will be divided into two phases which will take place over 10 years, according to the proposed plan.
"The development itself [racing district development] would cost $1.46 billion. The other components [properties development] where we have the breeding farms, the schools and the academy would total $4 billion," said Mohammad Al Khayat, Commercial Director at Meydan.
The agreement is designed to be a partnership and not an ownership, said Al Khayat. "We will join hands with the government of China to share our knowhow with them where they support us by providing a land mass and some companies to [provide] finance," he explained.
When asked about how much funding Dubai will commit to the project, Al Khayat said that the details about financing haven't been evaluated yet.
"There will be residential components and commercial components that will be enough to raise the necessary funds for the development of the project," he said. "There is a really good relationship with China from the beginning of this project and we also want to continue this relationship," said Al Khayat.
"China is one of the fastest growing economies. Tianjin has a great infrastructure and is close to the main city [Beijing] which takes less than 20 minutes. It's a green area. It's also a free zone," Al Khayat said.
Asked whether Meydan plans to become a global racecourse developer, Al Khayat said that Meydan's objective is to become internationali.
