Dubai : Developer Sama Dubai said on Tuesday that it is committed to projects in Morocco and Oman after government officials from those countries said its work had stopped.
Sama pulled out of the $3 billion (Dh11 billion) Amwaj development in Morocco and construction was halted on the $1.7 billion Salam Yiti development in Oman, tourism ministry officials said.
"International investors are still there," Moroccan Tourism Minister Yassir Zenagui said in an interview in Dubai. "But some of them have pulled back, such as Sama Dubai from the Emirates."
Wael Al Lawati, chief executive officer of the Omani Tourism Ministry's investment arm, said construction has been stopped on hotel and residential project Salam Yiti while Sama and the government review its scope and execution. In 2007 Sama announced the plan to build Amwaj, a 300-acre development on the Bouregreg river in Morocco's capital Rabat.
On the ground
The two government officials spoke at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai.
"Amwaj is on the ground in Morocco working with the authorities," a Sama spokesperson who declined to be identified said in a text message reply. "Likewise, there is a joint venture in Oman working with the authorities on the development of the project."
Sama, which merged with Dubai Properties Group and Tatweer in August 2009, was hurt by defaults after the local property market crashed in the wake of the global credit crisis. The government in December abandoned a plan to merge the companies with developer Emaar Properties.
Oman's Salam Yiti was designed to include about 5,720 homes, four hotels, a golf course and a marina as well as retail space. The project was aimed at tourists and vacation-home buyers. The first phase of the development was scheduled for completion in mid-2010.
Prior to the merger with Dubai Properties, Sama was the international property unit of Dubai Holding, which in September paid off a $300 million Sama loan.
