The Afghan developer Azizi Developments said it was pressing ahead with plans to build thousands of flats in Nakheel’s Al Furjan project and Palm Jumeirah as part of a Dh4.5 billion development plan.
The company, which is owned by the chairman Mirwais Azizi, owner of the second-largest commercial bank in Afghanistan, said that it plans to develop a total of 15 blocks of flats in Al Furjan on the outskirts of Dubai.
Azizi, which was hit hard by the global financial crisis, prompting Rera to cancel four of its original Al Furjan schemes, started construction work on the first five buildings in Al Furjan eight months ago.
The blocks Azizi Iris, Azizi Liatris, Azizi Orchid, Azizi Yasmine and Azizi Feirouz, each comprise around 100 apartments and are set to be completed by the contractors SS Lootah and Modern Construction Company by the end of 2015.
The company said that it had pre-sold all 99 apartments in Azizi Iris and had sold 70 per cent of the apartments in the other four blocks at an average price of Dh925 per square foot.
Speaking at the International Property Show exhibition in Dubai yesterday, Azizi said that it expects to start marketing a second batch of a further five 12-storey towers over the next three months, which it plans to build next to the first five in Al Furjan as well as a block of 90 luxury apartments on the Crescent of Palm Jumeirah.
“For us the market is not slowing down,” said Mohsen Kamel, the chairman’s senior adviser.
Azizi acquired 12 plots of land in Al Furjan in 2007, but was forced to abandon its original plans as the global financial crisis hit.
Azizi returned to the Dubai property market in 2013, redesigning its original towers to make them taller and bought 12 more plots at Al Furjan from Nakheel as well as three plots on Palm Jumeirah and a hotel plot in Dubai Healthcare City.
The company said that eventually it plans to develop another five bigger apartment buildings, comprising about 150 apartments each at its Al Furjan development as well as a 700,000 sq ft hotel with a revolving restaurant.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
