The Dubai developer behind Motor City is in high-level talks to ressurect a bid to bring Formula One to the city.
Dubai-listed Union Properties is hoping to attract the world’s top motor racing event to its Dubai Autodrome track in Motor City.
Union Properties, which owns the 35 million square feet Motor City project said that it has been holding discussions with the Dubai Government about bidding to attract the motor sport extravaganza.
"We have all the infrastructure ready. It has been certified that it is the level required for Formula One and we hope it will be used for [F1] training," Ahmed Khalaf Obaid bin Touq Al Marri, the general manager of Union Properties told The National.
“The infrastructure had been specially made to attract Formula One. We are ready on the side of the infrastructure. When will Dubai get Formula One? This is an issue for the future. Because when we plan to do that all the entities, the government will support that.”
Dubai Autodrome, which was opened in 2004, has become home to various motor sports events including the Dubai 24-hour endurance race and GT races.
The news of a potential Dubai Grand Prix bid comes as Union Properties resumes construction work on six Dubai schemes worth Dh4 billion after spending the past five years attempting to tackle crippling debts to its lenders and attempting to pay back contractors left out of pocket when the Dubai property market crashed in 2008.
“We have settled all of our debts and we are settling with all of our contractors,” Mr Al Marri said. “In 2013 our profits were eight times those in 2012. We are back developing projects.”
The company, which suffered losses of Dh1.56bn in 2011, was forced to sell many of its prestigious assets, including the Ritz- Carlton hotel and substantial stakes in Limestone House and Index Tower to major shareholder Emirates NBD.
Motor City was launched in 2005 as a motor racing-themed community housing 25,000 people built around a race track and the world’s first F1 theme park. The grand project was to be built on 35 million square feet of land gifted by the Dubai Government.
However, after spending Dh950 million on works, the project was suspended in 2009 after Dubai Properties was hit hard by the global financial crisis. The company says that it has developed just 25 per cent of its land at Motor City, while last year Union Properties was forced to finally cancel a multimillion dollar agreement with the F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to build a theme park and forfeit a US$10m signing-on fee with his company Formula One Administration.
Since then Abu Dhabi has built many of the attractions Union Properties first envisaged with its plans including its own F1 track and motor racing theme park Ferrari World.
Abu Dhabi hosted its first Grand Prix in 2009. The race rolled into the Bahrain International Cicuit this week and will return to the capital between November 21 and 23.
In September Union Properties said it was pressing ahead with six new real estate projects including a development of 70 shops called The Ribbon and 40 stores at an expansion of its Uptown Mirdif retail district.
Mr Al Marri said that Union Properties had awarded construction contracts to Fujairah National Construction to start work on the two retail schemes.
He added that the company had also signed a joint venture with Dubai Investments to build another 210 town houses at its Green Community close to the Dubai Expo 2020 site.
He also said that after the company last year decided to increase the amount of shares which can be owned by foreigners from 15 to 25 per cent it would consider raising the cap on how much of the company foreign investors can own even further.
“We are planning to do things step by step,” Mr Al Marri said. “We do not want to reach too high and then we cannot make it. If we reach 25 per cent we will go up. We have reached 15 per cent already. We will go up until we reach the 50 per cent if we can. But we will do this slowly.”
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.
Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Second Test
In Dubai
Pakistan 418-5 (declared)
New Zealand 90 and 131-2 (follow on)
Day 3: New Zealand trail by 197 runs with 8 wickets remaining
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
MATCH INFO
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
FIGHT CARD
Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)
Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Canada
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
