Dubai – A new strategy (PDF)

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The head of Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Marwan bin Ghalita has announced that Dubai is considering canceling 27 third party (sub-developer) projects. He estimates that this would represent about a quarter of all planned projects and that this figure had not changed from their previous estimates earlier in the year. A crisis committee made up of Dubai’s Land Department and RERA had been created to evaluate how many and what projects in the pipeline were unfeasible. RERA had already announced that the delivery date of 20% of residential units in 2009 and 40% in 2010 could be postponed.

This decision should be seen as a positive development as the government continues to refocus its strategy on more productive infrastructure projects. A lot of resources have, in the past, been devoted to a number of strictly real estate projects which have sometimes crowded out other long term investments as well as create a housing surplus in the emirate. The recent move to prioritise more strategic infrastructure has led to the acceleration of major projects involving roads, transport (metro/airport), ports and utilities. These should contribute in strengthening Dubai’s position as a global trade hub with first class infrastructure.