Business | Property
Sobha aims to increase revenue to $1b by 2009
Sobha Group is the latest company to plunge into the Dubai real estate development market aiming to increase its revenues to $1 billion by 2009.
Dubai: Sobha Group is the latest company to plunge into the Dubai real estate development market aiming to increase its revenues to $1 billion by 2009.
It has a current portfolio of Dh4 billion spread over a total of four properties in Business Bay and Jumeirah Village.
Ajay Rajendran, Vice president chairman, Sobha Groups says, "In Dubai we have around one and a half million square feet currently under construction. It'll become around three times this by early next year."
Three commercial projects are currently underway in Business Bay including Sobha Ivory and Sobha Sapphire that has a total land area of 280 thousand square feet and a value of Dh550 million. The group's first residential development project is Sobha Daffodil in Jumeirah Village and has 178 apartments spread over 240 thousand square feet with a project value of Dh200 million.
According to Ajay Rajendran, they are also branching out into the hospitality sector by developing a hotel on the Palm Jumeirah. Construction is due to begin in October or November and due for completion mid 2010.
"We're looking at a lot of opportunities. We also want to build eight other hotels in Oman, India and Zanzibar."
In Dubai, the group also has a 130 thousand square foot factory in Technopark.
Sobha has plans to develop seven to eight million square feet of land in India at a value of $2 billion.
Business Editor's choice
-
Do unemployment figures flatter to deceive?
Jobseekers and recruiters give out mixed signals ranging from optimism to downright despair even as official data show recovery
-
Banks can increase their share
Longer opening hours, more locations outside cities and lower charges can help
-
Geepas idea blossomed in Dubai
The journey led from a small shop in Bahrain to a $1.27b company in the UAE


