UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Government-funded firms take centre stage at the Cityscape convention in Abu Dhabi

Record ID: 566522

  • Title: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Government-funded firms take centre stage at the Cityscape convention in Abu Dhabi
  • Date: 26th April 2009
  • Summary: SIGN READING "ALDAR" VARIOUS OF MODEL OF YAS ISLAND DEVELOPMENT VARIOUS OF MODEL OF RAHA BEACH DEVELOPMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAMI EID, DEPUTY DIRECTOR MARKETING AND MEDIA AT ALDAR, SAYING: ''The atmosphere isn't bad at all. Obviously we can't use last year as standard to decide whether the exhibition this year is good or not. But this year, there's a lot of B-to-B, there are a lot of interested traders and investors. As you can see, there are people, there are lots of people inquiring, and as you can see the Aldar stand is busy. So it is not like the previous Cityscape but it is better than we expected it to be.'' VARIOUS OF SIGN READING "TDIC" MODEL OF TDIC'S SAADIYAT BEACH DEVELOPMENT / TV SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIVE WALLEY, UNEMPLOYED EX-SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AT HEERY INTERNATIONAL, SAYING: "I suppose cautious is the best word. But there's hope, and they have the finance and the security to see it through, so, Abu Dhabi will come through and in Dubai it will be a bit slower.'' PLAQUE READING "JOB WANTED SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER" (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIVE WALLEY, UNEMPLOYED EX-SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AT HEERY INTERNATIONAL, SAYING: ''It's been very very difficult. I think it will get better, but it's going to be slow.'' VARIOUS OF MODEL OF REEM ISLAND DEVELOPMENT
  • Embargoed: 11th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Arab Emirates
  • Country: United Arab Emirates
  • Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADX1G53JRYIR4G7O89XZUPOKEB
  • Story Text: As the oil-exporting emirate's property sector shows signs of recovery, Abu Dhabi is focusing its attention on governmental and infrastructure projects.
    This year's Abu Dhabi Cityscape saw a substantial amount of exhibition space taken up by branches of the government and government-funded firms such as the Department of Municipal Affairs, the Department of Transport and the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. The capital is engaged in an urban structure framework plan, which entails various districts, eco-villages and streetscaping.
    ''In general terms, the effect on Cityscape is clear in the sense that the public's attendance doesn't come close to last year's and the year before last. With thanks to God however, here in Abu Dhabi, there is public acceptance but it has been clearly affected. Any visitor and observer will notice this. Specifically however as the Abu Dhabi Planning Council, our governmental projects have not been affected. The support is there and there is no delay in our projects,'' said Abu Dhabi Planning Council Associate Planner Abdulla Ahmed Salem.
    Although the numbers at the exhibition were visibly lower than previous years, exhibitors felt that there was optimism and genuine interest from business professionals.
    ''The atmosphere isn't bad at all. Obviously we can't use last year as standard to decide whether the exhibition this year is good or not. But this year, there's a lot of B-to-B (business to business), there are a lot of interested traders and investors. As you can see, there are people, there are lots of people inquiring, and as you can see the Aldar stand is busy. So it is not like the previous Cityscape but it is better than we expected it to be,'' said Sami Eid, Deputy Director Marketing and Media at Aldar, an Abu Dhabi based property development company.
    Abu Dhabi, the capital of the seven-member United Arab Emirates and home to most of the country's oil, has weathered the financial crisis better than its neighbour Dubai -- although developers have also cut prices and eased payment facilities.
    ''When it was booming, when everybody wanted to build something to make money, it was residential developments, commercial towers, this, that and the other. Any everybody came up with some tower somewhere. And the other thing is that before they launched these things like Reem Island, all the different islands, Yas Island, a lot of these islands had space for sub-developers so they all came in and they each announced their tower, or several towers depending. So a lot of that stuff has been ongoing and all of that has been sold. So that's done and dusted," said Nicole Walter, an editor at a Dubai based weekly property magazine.

    "Instead now of launching more of that, this time the government has come out and said okay we want to create a new district, we want to create this, we want to create that, an infrastructure, more infrastructure developments as well as far as I can see. So there's less of this, we're building another tower going on and they know that there's not going to be many people buying right now," Walter added.
    Earlier this week however, two Abu Dhabi real estate companies announced new multi-billion dollar projects, a stark contrast to the raft of suspensions and cancellations of billions of dollars worth of projects Dubai has seen in recent months.
    The Emirate is also pressing ahead with existing mega-projects such as Aldar's Yas Island development which will host a Formula One race in November, and the multi-billion dollar Reem Island.
    Developers in the Gulf Arab trade hub of Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates federation, have been delaying and cancelling projects for months as the global financial crisis and a slump in oil prices take their toll on the once-booming construction sector.
    Developers and contractors have slashed thousands of jobs in the UAE as years of rapid oil-fuelled growth come to an end.
    Of the unfortunate, a recently unemployed senior project manager paraded around the Abu Dhabi Cityscape bearing a portion of his CV and phone number on a placard hung around his neck, hoping he would be offered a job.
    Clive Walley, who lost his job last month as a client site project manager at Heery International, a division of Balfour Beatty Management, said he received a dozen phone calls from firms -- but yet described the mood at the exhibition as ''cautious".

    "I suppose cautious is the best word. But there's hope, and they have the finance and the security to see it through, so, Abu Dhabi will come through and in Dubai it will be a bit slower," Walley said.
    ''It's been very very difficult. I think it will get better, but it's going to be slow,'' he added as he hopefully awaits a job interview.
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