Marina 101, the second-tallest building in Dubai behind Burj Khalifa, is "close to completion", said The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) at Dubai Land Department (DLD).
Construction started in 2007 and was scheduled for completion in 2014, but while it hasn't been a smooth ride for investors, there now appears to be fresh hope.
Rera said in a statement that investors had been informed that construction on the project "is almost complete" and urged them to initiate payment to "ensure timely completion".
“Following the suspension of construction operations at the project, Rera addressed investors, in co-operation with the account trustee at Bank of Baroda, based on Article No 15 of the law concerning escrow accounts for real estate development in Dubai which states that, 'In the event of any emergency situation where the real estate development project is not completed, the escrow agent of that project must, after consultation with the department, take the required measures to preserve the rights of depositors and ensure that the real estate development project is completed or that depositors are refunded their payments'," said Marwan bin Ghalita, chief executive of Rera.
"As a result, a new timeline was prepared for the project’s completion within the specified period."
He added that a date has been set to to make a list of the housing units and commence issuing certificates of completion.
Rera has contacted government service entities in Dubai, such as the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Dubai Civil Defence, to start preparing the site for operation and handovers.
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UAE's tallest buildings
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It has urged owners who have not paid up to 90 per cent of their due amounts to do so and is "beginning to issue final warnings to those who are violating the payment plan in accordance with the law, before starting any other legal procedures against the unit owners who defaulted on payments".
A Dubai Land Department representative told The National that there is not yet a proposed opening date.
The original developer, Sheffield Holdings, left the project uncompleted after running out of money in 2019. Bank of Baroda was one of the three Indian lenders along with Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of India.
Ananda Kumar, general manager at Bank of Baroda for the Middle East, told The National in 2019 that the project was "almost complete … over 95 per cent work is done. Currently, we are working with different stakeholders to reach a solution at the earliest". A new developer was being sought.
Owned by Indian businessman Abu Ali Malik Shroff, Sheffield Holdings had committed an investment of Dh1.2 billion in the project. Mr Shroff, who ran into financial troubles, was deported to India sometime back, Mr Kumar confirmed.
Sheffield Holdings' website remains unavailable and its Dubai office phone number was not reachable on Thursday.
Bank of Baroda has been contacted by The National.
Sheffield Holdings' catalogue of Marina 101 shows that 32 floors of the building will host a luxury hotel, while another 42 floors will feature exclusive hotel apartments. Residences will be from floor 80 to the top.
It was described as being inspired by the distinctive architectural style of buildings in Manhattan, New York. The catalogue said the highlight would be the 101st floor which would feature "a fancy nightclub lounge".
As well as being the second-tallest tower in Dubai, Marina 101 is also the 27th tallest in the world. It is slightly taller than Dubai Marina's Princess Tower, which stands at 413 metres and was overtaken as the tallest residential building in the world by 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
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Founder: Monark Modi
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Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
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- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
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But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
