The main developer of one of Dubai’s most outlandish real estate projects, the Falconcity of Wonders, says the long-delayed project will gain new life this year with around US$2 billion in new developments.
The falcon-shaped project has seen only about a tenth of the 5,500 planned homes built since its launch in 2005 and although billed to include outsized replicas of The Pyramids and the Taj Mahal, there are as yet no “wonders” on the 42-million square foot plot.
Salem Ahmad Al Moosa Enterprises, the family-owned conglomerate that is spearheading the development, says the project’s troubles have been caused by sub-developers in charge of attractions such as replicas of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower and recreations of downtown areas of the likes of London and New York.
“When we sold these we made it very clear, they had to start construction immediately and they kept on delaying,” Alharith Bin Salem Al Moosa, vice-chairman of Falconcity of Wonders said at a property exhibition in Hong Kong this month where he was publicising the project.
“Deadline was before yesterday, a long time ago. It’s an expensive agreement, there are damages to us if they don’t,” he said.
Mr Al Moosa said Falcon City has since retaken control of more than 10 of these sub-developments which include a mix of residential units, retail, offices and hotels.
The company achieved this via Dubai’s real estate regulations, arbitration or amicable agreement, he said but declined to provide further details or identify the sub-developers, citing confidentiality agreements.
Mr Al Moosa said the overall project could still be completed by 2020 and that his company was in talks with new investors but declined to provide more details on how the $2bn in new developments would be funded.
Gaining new investment could be a tough sell, with Dubai property prices again in decline and transaction numbers also down following a sharp rebound from the crash of 2008-10.
“Sometimes the agreement moves forward, sometimes agreement rolled back, this is normal business procedure. Not every day is a happy day,” said Mr Al Moosa, adding that Dubai’s hosting of the Expo 2020 exhibition will buoy its property sector.
“Whenever anyone says Dubai’s market has an over-supply of residential (property), they have to think twice. We have to start contracts now to meet future demand,” Mr Al Moosa added.
Salem Ahmad Al Moosa Enterprises was founded in 1975. The conglomerate has interests in engineering, real estate and oil services.
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Company Profile
Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000
Mountain Boy
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Starring: Naser Al Messabi
Rating: 3/5
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Company profile
Name: Envi Lodges
Started: September 2021
Co-founders: Noelle Homsy and Chris Nader
Based: UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Number of employees: 12 to 15
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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Rating: 4.5/5
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Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
SOUTH KOREA SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Kim Seung-gyu, Jo Hyeon-woo, Song Bum-keun
Defenders: Kim Young-gwon, Kim Min-jae, Jung Seung-hyun, Kim Ju-sung, Kim Ji-soo, Seol Young-woo, Kim Tae-hwan, Lee Ki-je, Kim Jin-su
Midfielders: Park Yong-woo, Hwang In-beom, Hong Hyun-seok, Lee Soon-min, Lee Jae-sung, Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min (captain), Jeong Woo-yeong, Moon Seon-min, Park Jin-seob, Yang Hyun-jun
Strikers: Hwang Hee-chan, Cho Gue-sung, Oh Hyeon-gyu
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
Boston Strangler
Director: Matt Ruskin
Starring: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola
Rating: 3/5
