Mina Zayed demolition: Abu Dhabi announces major road closures

Latest: Abu Dhabi tears down skyscrapers in seconds ahead of port regeneration

Abu Dhabi transport chiefs announced major road closures for the demolition of Mina Plaza on Friday.

The Sheikh Zayed Tunnel, Mina Street, Corniche Street and other roads in the port area will be affected from Thursday.

Closures will take place in two phases.

From 10pm on Thursday, Mina Street (from the intersection with Al Zahia Street); Corniche Street (from the intersection with Al Zahia Street); and all roads and entrances on Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Road that lead to the Mina Zayed area will close until after the demolition.

From 6am on Friday, the Sheikh Zayed Tunnel in both directions; Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street leading to Sheikh Khalifa Bridge; and Hamdan bin Mohammed Street for those coming from Al Maryah Island towards the port will close. On Corniche Street, all vehicles will be diverted to the upper intersections of Sheikh Zayed Road.

The closures are in place until the demolition ends. Authorities previously said it would start at 8am and take just 10 seconds.

On Wednesday, police went to Mina Zayed to speak to shop owners about the plans in place for the demolition.

They urged traders to co-operate with inspection teams, who will be ensuring all shops are closed from 7pm on Thursday until 4pm on Friday.

The temporary closure will affect all the markets (fish, plant, carpet, livestock, fruit and vegetables) as well as the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Supermarket and the slaughterhouse.
Major rejuvenation works will begin in the area when the abandoned tower block is demolished. The work includes overhauling the souqs and building separate facilities for fish, fruit and vegetable markets.

Construction on the three-tower Mina Plaza block began in 2007 but was halted several times.

Bus services in the area will also be affected. Abu Dhabi Police urged everyone to follow the rules.

How building demolitions are typically carried out:

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.”

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Mina Zayed demolition: Abu Dhabi announces major road closures

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