DUBAI / 6UAE 3rd NOVEMBER 2007dubaiBIG PLANS FORTHE FUTUREIN THE CITY OFSUPERLATIVESDesigned toresemble abillowing sail,the Burj Al<strong>Arab</strong> is theworld’s tallesthotelFamous for its iconic architecture and boomingreal estate sector, the fastest growing city inthe region has not yet run out of steamThe emirate that has most successfullycaptured international attention is Dubai– and it is easy to see why.When it comesto innovative and ambitious developmentprojects, Dubai has demonstrated an extraordinaryknack for grabbing the headlines.The world’s tallest and only 7-star hotel?That’s the Burj Al <strong>Arab</strong>, soaring to a heightof more than 1,000 feet.The world’s tallestfreestanding structure? That’s the Burj Dubai,which will be the tallest building in the worldon completion in 2009.The largest airportwill be Dubai World Central International,with an annual cargo capacity of 12 milliontons and a passenger capacity of more than120 million. The largest shopping space willbe the Dubai Mall,also under construction,a shopping colossus larger than 50 internationalsoccer pitches.The largest waterfrontdevelopment will be Dubai Waterfrontproject, which extends over an area of 31square miles.And so the list goes on. Dubailand will bethe world’s largest theme park.The three islandsof The Palm project will be the largestman-made islands – and be visible from themoon.Ski Dubai,where you can go skiing andtobogganing in the desert on real (manufactured)snow, is the world’s largest indoorsnow park.All these massive projects – and more –are the result of a highly successful strategyfor economic development by an emiratethat knows it cannot depend on oil for itsfuture prosperity and has chosen to reinventitself as a hub for business and tourism.Overthe past decade, the emirate has been highlysuccessful in building world-class infrastructureand services.Boosted by Dubai’s pioneering decision topermit ownership of freehold property by citizensof other countries,the real estate and constructionsectors have enjoyed a sustained boom.Estimates put the value of real estate under constructionin the emirate last year at £22 billion,with an equal amount at the development stage.The previously mentioned Burj Dubai will bethe centrepiece of a 500-acre, £3.9 billionDowntown Dubai development that is intendedto offer a dynamic urban lifestyle to rival thatof New York and Los Angeles in the US,the LeftBank in Paris,and the harbour areas in Hong Kongand Sydney.The gold-rush days may now be over, butrents and prices are still rising steadily, eventhough the frenetic buying has slowed. Lastyear real estate transactions reached a newhigh of £8.7 billion,an increase of 88 per centon 2005, and the signs are that for the foreseeablefuture demand will exceed supply.Dubai’s population is forecast to almost doubleto more than 2 million people by 2010,and to reach 4 million by 2017,creating a hugerequirement for new accommodation.The well-diversified economy continuesto expand at a rapid rate. Nominal GDPgrowth last year was an impressive 23 percent.Dubai now accounts for around 43 percent of the UAE’s total non-oil GDP and 28per cent of its entire GDP.Dubai’s free zoneshave made a major contribution to this growthand diversification. The emirate’s strategiclocation and excellent infrastructure makesit an ideal distribution and commercial hubfor the region.The latest economic plan,launched by Dubai’sruler, and Prime Minister of the UAE, SheikhMohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, aims toachieve economic growth of 11 per cent a yearand to almost triple gross domestic productto £53 billion by 2015.The workforce will needto almost double to sustain the pace of growth.The plan focuses on developing the emirateas a business and services centre.“We
UAE 3rd NOVEMBER 2007 DUBAI / 7will focus on the strong sectors in our economyincluding tourism,trade,transportationand financial services,” explains SheikhMohammed.The contribution to GDP madeby financial services will increase fourfold to£7.4 billion from the current £1.7 billion.Dubai has firmly established itself as theUAE’s tourism hub.In 1996,the emirate welcomed1.9 million visitors. Last year, it receivedmore than 6.5 million, generatingrevenues in excess of £1.5 billion. The contributionmade by tourism to the emirate’sGDP has risen to around 30 per cent.Passenger numbers at Dubai InternationalAirport have been rising by at least 15 percent each year since 2000;in 2006,28.8 millionpeople passed through it. More than687,000 of Dubai’s visitors in 2006 arrivedfrom the UK, the emirate’s largest sourceof arrivals since 2003, constituting 10 percent of the market.The 82 per cent occupancy rate registeredby the local hotels was exceeded onlyby London and New York.There are currentlymore than 400 hotels – 100 haveopened since 1996. By 2010, the emirateaims to attract 15 million tourists annually,to have 80,000 hotel rooms comparedto the current 39,000, and to more thantriple the number of people employed bythe industry to 100,000.A major draw will be Dubailand, an entertainment,leisure and retail complex ofmind-boggling scale, twice the size of WaltDisney World Resort in Florida,that expectsto cater for a population of 2.5 milliontourists, workers and residents, once fullyoperational. Its attractions will range fromtheme parks, to culture and art, scienceand planetariums, sports and sports academies,wellbeing and health facilities, shopping,resorts and hotels. ●Sheikh Zayed Road, named after the UAE’s first presidentRocky Real Estate, welcome to DubaiOne-stop shop backed by three decades ofexperience in the Emirate’s real estate market.Dubai has seen it all,the hard times and thegood times, and the emirate’s real estatemarket is no exception. Having gone throughrapid transformation over the last decade anda half,and with opportunities being snapped upat a rapid pace,experience is an asset that oftenproves essential towards transforming opportunitiesinto success. In this sense, Rocky RealEstate definitely has an edge.Having entered Dubai’s property market in1976, Rocky Real Estate has positioned itselfas one of the emirate’s oldest and most wellrecognized and reliable real estate companies.Mr. Kiran Uttamchandani, Rocky Real Estate’sMarketing Director, explains,“Thesecret behind our successful transformationhas been moving accordingto the times.”With the one-stop shop concepttruly mastered and an array of servicesthat include buying,selling,leasing,acquisition, disposition andproperty management,Rocky RealEstate today has more than 8500individual commercial and residentialunits under management, enviableexperience within the market,and a number of close ties withfinancial institutions ready to providecredit facilities to its clients.MR. KIRANUTTAMCHANDANIMarketingDirectornot only in the real estate market, but also inevery sector of the emirate, is fantastic.Rocky Real Estate entered Dubai’sproperty market in 1976, and hassince become one of Dubai’s mostrecognized real estate companies.Could you give us an overview ofRocky Real Estate’s beginnings?Rocky Real Estate is a company that wasstarted over thirty years ago by my fatherand uncle. Dubai at that time was a completelydifferent emirate to the one we seetoday. Rocky Real Estate started long beforeall the changes that transformedDubai to what it is nowadayscame, when Dubai’s real estatesector was basically a couple ofbuildings here and there.Of course, after three decades inthe market, Rocky Real Estate hasfaced a number of challenges, asthe industry went through a numberof difficult periods, especially inthe beginning. The main thing isthat we’ve learned a lot from ourpast experiences and can todayuse our knowledge in order tooffer the highest possible level ofservice to our customers.words,we operate in a way in which our futureforecast is based on our past experiences.What is the importance of UKinvestors and real estate related firmsto Rocky Real Estate?UK investors are very representative toRocky Real Estate. It is important to highlightthat British investors are smart, sophisticated,intellectual,and they know what they want andalso how to get it.If you look at the British realestate market, which has now existed foralmost four hundred years, one can safely saythat it is highly sophisticated.I personally enjoyworking with British clients due to the fact thatthey know what they are talking about.Theyare the type of customer that is very informedabout both the internal and external market.They know how much to invest and how muchto expect as a return on the investment.Themain attractions of Dubai for UK investorsinclude a tax-free environment, the beautifulbeaches of the emirate, the weather, the lowprice of property, and the easy access to thecountry;there are over twelve flights daily fromthe UK.It could be said that Dubai offers an exceptionallifestyle and has become a kind ofoptional real estate investment market forthose who planned to invest in Spain, but whoare now looking for something new.Are there any strategies in place inorder to capitalise on the potentialBritish clients have to offer?We are currently planning to open an officein the UK towards the middle of next year,before the summer starts.Our idea is to builda structure that can provide support to ourexisting customers as well as attract newpotential clients.We believe that there are anumber of investors out there who are interestedin investing in the property market ofDubai but don’t actually know how to do so.We are looking at offering a service which isnot yet on the market where we want to offerguaranteed rental return.We also plan to createan investment fund, where we manage aportfolio of properties on behalf of our clients.What are your main priorities for thefinal semester of 2007 and the firstsemester of 2008?Our priority is to expand. Rocky RealEstate plans to expand in a smart way wherewe want to make sure that we have the rightpeople, that is, highly trained employees thatare able to provide our clients with the bestpossible investment advice. Our main prioritywill be to focus on research in order to findthe most suitable product to fulfil the needs ofour clients; we have always aimed to satisfyour clients. ●Dubai’s Real Estate sector is one thathas firmly positioned itself as a worldwideleader for investment and hasbecome synonymous with trend settingproperties and global landmarks.In your view, what is behind thedevelopment of the emirate’s RealEstate market?Talking about the key factors behind the successof Dubai is synonymous with talking aboutone person in particular, His Highness SheikhMohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,Prime Ministerof the UAE and Ruler of Dubai;it is talkingabout his vision, strategies, strength, and alsohis way of decision making. One of the mostimpressive aspects of the transformation thatDubai is going through is the fact that everychange that has occurred over the last fewyears was planned over ten years ago. Thestrategy behind this unbelievable development,Rocky Real Estate offers its clients awide variety of buyer and sellerservices. Could you give us someinsight into these?The majority of our business is related toproperty management, meaning that RockyReal Estate’s main service consists of leasingout properties on behalf of our clients.Thishas been our main business over the lastthirty years and it is where most of our experienceand knowledge resides.We are a veryconservative company in terms of buying andselling.When it comes to investment, we onlyinvest in properties in which we are veryconfident.The main aspects we always takeinto account include location, the quality ofthe property, and the development in whichthe property is located.We offer our clientsonly well selected properties with the highestpossible return on investment. In other
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