Sharjah’s Arada secures $68m from Dubai Islamic Bank

The money will be used to speed up construction work at its Aljada mega-project in the emirate

The Areej Apartments at Arada's Aljada project. The developer secured Dh250 million in new funding from Dubai Islamic Bank. Courtesy Arada

Sharjah property developer Arada secured Dh250 million ($68.07m) from Dubai Islamic Bank to speed up the construction of its Aljada mega-project in the emirate.

The latest deal comes after another Dh300m financing arrangement that the company reached with the lender earlier this year.

“The financing will help to accelerate ... construction work at Aljada, where a number of major contracts have already been handed out this year, including the construction of a student housing community, Nest, and The Boulevard, which is a set of three nine-storey apartment blocks,” the developer said on Sunday.

Aljada is a 2.23-million-square-metre mixed-use development that is scheduled to be completed by 2025. The first homes at the project were handed over at the beginning of this year.

Arada’s sales rose by 35 per cent in 2020 to Dh1.75 billion on annual basis, boosted by high demand for its first community, Nasma Residences.

The company has set a target to increase annual sales to Dh3bn by 2025, chief executive Ahmed Alkhoshaibi told The National last year.

It also announced the launch of its third major project, Masaar, earlier this year, boosting its project pipeline to Dh33bn, which includes the Dh24bn Aljada and Nasma Residences developments.

Arada is a joint venture between KBW Investments – a company controlled by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed – and Sharjah-based Basma Group.