Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The authorities plan to use public-private partnerships to provide Emiratis with housing by approved developers. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The authorities plan to use public-private partnerships to provide Emiratis with housing by approved developers. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The authorities plan to use public-private partnerships to provide Emiratis with housing by approved developers. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The authorities plan to use public-private partnerships to provide Emiratis with housing by approved developers. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Business

Property

Abu Dhabi launches $953m residential project for UAE citizens

Yas Canal development is expected to be completed by late 2027

Alkesh Sharma
Alkesh Sharma

March 26, 2024

  • English
  • Arabic

A Dh3.5 billion ($953 million) plan to offer 1,146 villas for UAE citizens has been launched in Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, approved the Yas Canal project for Al Raha Beach. It is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2027.

The project will be overseen by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Centre for Projects and Infrastructure and the ICT Real Estate Development Company.

Sheikh Khaled said the residential project reflected Abu Dhabi’s commitment to offer high-quality housing to meet the needs of Emirati families, Abu Dhabi Media Office reported. He said it would ensure their well-being and foster social stability to support the emirate’s development.

The project, which will cover 1.8 square kilometres, includes villas, three mosques, a school and a gym, along with amenities and shops spread over an area of one hectare.

It will offer three to six-bedroom villas, ranging from 350 to 525 square metres, on plots measuring from 600 to 780 square metres.

Sales of units are managed in partnership with the ADHA, while ICT will look after the project’s design, construction and infrastructure.

The property market in the UAE bounced back strongly from the pandemic-driven slowdown in 2021 and it has maintained robust growth momentum.

The latest project is in line with plans to use public-private partnerships and provide Emiratis with suitable housing by approved developers.

In May last year, Sheikh Khaled approved a Dh85.4 billion community master plan to build 76,000 homes and residential plots for citizens in the capital over the next five years.

In June, more than 1,800 Emiratis were granted housing loans worth a total of Dh3.1 billion by the Abu Dhabi government.

The Yas Canal residential project offers UAE citizens housing loans from the ADHA.

UAE currency
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ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon

For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.

T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Qualifier A, Muscat

(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv) 

Fixtures

Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain 

Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain 

Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines 

Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals 

Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final 

UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia

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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.”

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

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