Abdulla Al Habbai, the current chairman of Meraas Holding and Dubai Parks and Resorts, has been appointed as the new chairman of Dubai Holding.
According to the announcement made by the Dubai Government’s media office, Mr Al Habbai will retain his existing role as the chairman of Meraas Holding, the development company owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which is behind such concepts as The Beach at Jumeirah Beach Residence, City Walk in Jumeirah, Boxpark on Al Wasl Road and the new Bluewaters Island project. Meraas Holding is also the majority shareholder in the owner of the Dubai Parks and Resorts theme park cluster near Jebel Ali.
Mr Al Habbai has more than 25 years of experience in property and is the chief executive of the engineering office of the Private Office of the Ruler of Dubai.
Before this, he also spent 16 years at Dubai Municipality where he was responsible for overseeing urban planning.
Other current roles include memberships of the board of Dubai Real Estate Corporation and of the Museum of the Future project, as well as serving as the deputy chairman of Rove Hospitality, the new chain of budget hotels being developed by Emaar Properties.
Mr Al Habbai replaces Mohammed Al Gergawi, Dubai Holding's founding chairman, whose decision to step down after 18 years at the helm of the group was announced last month.
Mr Al Gergawi had overseen Dubai Holding’s growth from a start-up with 20 employees and a Dh200 million loan into a group with more than Dh100 billion in assets and 22,000 employees in 21 countries.
His departure was announced as the company’s main operating arm, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group, recorded an 8 per cent increase in net profit for 2016 to Dh6.32bn and a 16 per cent growth in revenue to Dh16.84bn.
Dubai Holding, which owns Dubai Properties, the business parks operator Tecom and the Jumeirah Hospitality Group, has set itself a target of hitting an annual profit of Dh10bn by 2020.
Announcing Mr Al Habbai’s appointment, Sheikh Mohammed said: “As a business leader who has steered major projects that have contributed to realising Dubai’s and the UAE’s growth vision, Abdulla Al Habbai is ideally placed to lead Dubai Holding in its next phase of growth.
“He has a proven record of successfully delivering projects that have supported the development of key sectors. I am confident that his extensive experience and expertise will enable him to steer Dubai Holding in achieving new levels of industry development and innovation.” Mr Al Habbai thanked Sheikh Mohammed for the faith that had been placed in him and said that he was committed to growing Dubai Holding’s contribution to the economy.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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