DUBAI // Buyers of villas in an upmarket development claim they have been thrown into limbo by stalled construction and what they say is a lack of communication from their site developer.
Hundreds of villas and townhouses in Jumeirah Village, a sprawling development on the outskirts of Dubai, were nearing completion in 2008 as the global recession began, which affected the developer, Nakheel, and caused work on the project to be held up. A handful of residences have since been finished and occupied.
Nakheel has acknowledged that the restructuring of its heavily-indebted parent company, Dubai World, affected progress on the community. The result for many buyers of Jumeirah Village properties has been uninhabitable structures and financial exhaustion.
"We've paid Dh3 million (US$816,000). It's gone," said Mumtaz Desai, a 35-year-old Briton, referring to the two-bedroom Mediterranean style-villa she thought she would be living in with her husband and 14-year-old daughter.
That plan has turned into a money trap for Ms Desai and her family. Promised a handover date of December 2008, repeated delays have forced them to live in a rented apartment in the Jumeirah Lake Towers to save money.
"We're all squeezing into a little one-bedroom apartment," she said. "It's me, my husband and my daughter. She's always had her own bedroom. We're like: 'You'll just have to suffer a little longer'. But two months of delays has become six, and now it's nearly three years."
Her rent on the apartment and mortgage payments on her stalled villa amount to Dh14,000 a month, facts that had yet to register on Nakheel representatives, she said.
"Nobody will give you any response except for the standard one," Ms Desai said.
A public relations official at Nakheel said in an e-mail that completion dates "for near-term projects will be determined shortly as part of the restructuring process; in the meantime, we continue to work towards resuming work on those developments".
Andrew, a 36-year-old Australian who chose not to give his surname, had plans of starting a family with his wife once they moved into their two-bedroom villa in Jumeirah Village. Every so often he drives past his property, which has lingered on the cusp of completion for more than six months.
"It's painted and it's got the sinks and toilets and showers and cabinets installed," he said.
"The fridge, the washing machine have been sitting in boxes for six months in the living room. What's left I could literally do myself. It's 95 per cent complete."
In the meantime, he and his wife have put off having children because of their monthly outlays on the villa. His Jumeirah Village mortgage and the rent on his current accommodation in Mirdif amount to about Dh18,000 in monthly expenses.
"We're ready to start a family but we can't afford it at the moment," he said. "It's all come down to this situation. But there are other people who are a lot worse than us. We're lucky that our project is at least going to be finished someday."
Jane, 43, a South African mother who chose not to give a last name, has been told that she will receive the her three-bedroom townhouse, this July, a delay of a year. Delighted that she will soon be moving in, she is nonetheless concerned about the surrounding development.
"The area, the playgrounds and things, is still a dust heap," she said. "The community parks, the pathways, the play areas, we just don't know what we're going to get."
@Email:hnaylor@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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MATCH INFO
Fulham 0
Aston Villa 3 (Grealish 4', Hourihane 15', Mings 48')
Man of the match: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)