JLT on track: Seventy buildings ready by 2010

Dubai: Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) will complete work on 70 towers by 2010. The remaining towers will be completed between 2011 and early 2012, Gulf News has learnt.

There are currently 36 towers within the development that are already occupied.

Fifty towers are scheduled for occupation by the end of the year, Ahmad Bin Sulayem, executive chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), said.

This figure will increase to 70 by 2010 and the remaining towers will be handed over in 2011 or possibly in the early part of 2012 when the whole development will be complete.

"[For] buildings that are beyond [the] halfway [construction mark], construction work will continue as it doesn't make sense to stop progress and wait for the market to improve," Bin Sulayem told Gulf News.

Plots designated to private developers have all been sold with the exception of three towers that the DMCC are developing themselves. These are Almas Tower which houses the headquarters of the DMCC, the Gold Tower and the Silver Tower.

The four lakes that are at the root of the JLT project are on track for completion and will be filled by the middle of next year.

The first lake, Zafeer, meaning 'sapphire' in Arabic and keeping in line with the commodities theme of the project, was finished earlier this year.

"Land lakes are a new thing in Dubai so we have taken a lot of extra measures, including... the quality of the lakes' water," Bin Sulayem explained.

The lakes will all be connected to the sea by a pipeline and will be flushed out every 10 days. Construction work on the pipeline is currently underway.

However, it will be difficult to complete the infrastructure work on the lakes' project until some of the private developers finish building their towers.

In the entire development of 87 towers, only three are not on schedule with the owners of units having to wait a little while longer.

While construction costs have fallen dramatically, demand is still low.