Emiratis hope Dh25bn Al Sinniyah Island deveopment will put UAQ on the map

Both residents of Umm Al Quwain and businesses hope the residential and leisure development will bring more tourists and it will provide somewhere closer to home to relax.

UMM AL QUWAIN // Residents and businesses believe that the Dh25 billion island development to be built will boost tourism and also offer locals a place to relax.

The government of Umm Al Quwain last month teamed up with Sobha Group to build a major new resort, Firdous Sobha, which will include four or five hotels and a golf course, on Al Sinniyah Island.

UAQ residents are behind the project, which they say will prevent them from always travelling to Dubai to spend leisure time.

Ahmad Moueen, a 27-year-old Emirati soldier, said: “It is a new and big project for the emirate, and in future there will be investment because people living outside UAQ will buy villas and apartments. In addition, it will be closer than Dubai and Abu Dhabi so we can spend our weekend and holidays there.”

Ahmad Rashid Al Khatal, 26, thinks the project will put UAQ on the map. “It will help in developing the emirate and its economy, investment, tourism and infrastructure,” the Emirati police officer said.

“I always go to malls in Dubai and if we will get cinemas and malls in the emirate, I will absolutely decrease my time hanging out in Dubai. In addition, people will start coming to the emirate.”

Firdous Sobha will cover a 53 million square feet site on the island, which is 1.2 kilometres from the shoreline.

In addition to the hotels and golf course, there will be boutique retail units, two villa communities, low-rise apartments, a marina and a series of man-made canals and lagoons with accompanying boardwalks.

Even nearby resorts that could see the development as competition are hopeful that it will boost tourism in the emirate.

“Not many people have heard about UAQ as a destination, and this kind of the project will definitely change the face of the emirate. When the emirate develops, it will benefit all sectors,” said Harikrishnan, manager of Barracuda Beach Resort.

“Because UAQ is not a market destination, the project will benefit the whole emirate and increase the tourism potential of UAQ.”

Ghassan El Kesti, Dreamland Aqua Park manager, said that the park struggles to attract tourists so a major new development would attract UAE residents and visitors from abroad.

“The emirate doesn’t have attraction destinations for tourists, and the park relies on residents living in the country,” he said.

“Today, we struggle at bringing people from the UAE here, and a project like this will definitely increase the tourist numbers.”

Mr El Kesti added that less than five per cent of Dreamland’s business is from tourists so he hopes to boost this number when the first phases of the development open. A time scale for the development is not yet available.