Abu Dhabi’s urban planners working on ways to restart stalled Reem Island projects

Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council is working on a plan to restart stalled property developments on Reem Island.

According to UPC officials, the planning body is looking at ways to encourage property developers to restart construction work on a handful of unfinished towers on the island that were hit by the global financial crisis.

“We are in the final stages of providing a recommendation for the way forward for these problems in Reem Island,” said Mohamed Al Khadar, the UPC’s executive director for Urban Development and Estidama Sector, at the Cityscape property exhibition in Abu Dhabi yesterday. “What the recommendation is I cannot disclose to you right now, but we will present it to the leadership of the government and then they will give us the mandate to go ahead and do it. This is one of our priorities.” he said.

“Reem Island is beautiful but it is been underestimated. This island can be easily rectified by different decisions, so we will be doing that exercise.”

As the bottom fell out of the property market in late 2008 and prices plunged, investors walked away from their commitments and property finance dried up, leaving developers unable to continue with billions of dirhams worth of development plans.

Property experts predict that the UPC’s plans may be similar to the Tanmia initiative from the Dubai Land Department that it launched in 2011 and where the DLD acts as a mediator between the developers of stalled projects and new developers and investors interested in restarting them.

At the end of last year, DLD reported that it had helped to restart 51 stalled projects worth Dh12 billion since the initiative was launched four years earlier.

“Reem Island clearly needs something like this,” said Craig Plumb, the head of research at JLL’s Dubai office. “However, the problem will be injecting the funding to get these towers finally built.”

According to figures from JLL’s Cityscape presentation, the UPC is scaling back its 2030 master plan for the capital with the city’s projected population for that year revised downwards to 2.4 million from an expected 3.1 million people when the plan was first published.

Mr Al Khadar said that 27 projects and master plans were approved by the UPC in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the final three months of last year, bringing the total number of approvals last year to 101.

This annual total accounted for a total floor area of 13.5 million square metres – 26 per cent more than in 2014.

Projects approved in the final quarter of last year included three Reem Island projects – the 185,000 square metre Reem Mall, 574 apartments in Najmat Towers and 408 apartments in Shams Meera.

They also include the first phase of a new development on Al Fahid Island, located between Saadiyat and Yas islands on the capital’s Sheikh Khalifa Highway.

Mr Al Khadar said that the UPC had given approval to 59 projects in Abu Dhabi that were allowed to exhibit and to sell units to customers at Cityscape and nine which were allowed to exhibit but not currently to sell units.

lbarnard@thenational.ae

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter

Brief scoreline:

Manchester United 2

Rashford 28', Martial 72'

Watford 1

Doucoure 90'

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.

8. Pillar 2 implementation

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg

Ajax v Real Madrid, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports

ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS

%3Cp%3EBy%202030%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%20aims%20to%20achieve%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%2039.3%20million%20visitors%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20nearly%2064%25%20up%20from%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%20Dh90%20billion%20contribution%20to%20GDP%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20about%2084%25%20more%20than%20Dh49%20billion%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%20178%2C000%20new%20jobs%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20bringing%20the%20total%20to%20about%20366%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%2052%2C000%20hotel%20rooms%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20up%2053%25%20from%2034%2C000%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%207.2%20million%20international%20visitors%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20almost%2090%25%20higher%20compared%20to%202023's%203.8%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%203.9%20international%20overnight%20hotel%20stays%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2022%25%20more%20from%203.2%20nights%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

How to avoid crypto fraud

Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.