Tatweer plans to take its successful brands abroad |
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TatweerTatweer
, a member of Dubai Holding, will replicate its various branded properties in overseas markets including the Tiger Woods Dubai, Dubai Healthcare CityDubai Healthcare City, Dubai Industrial CityDubai Industrial City and its various theme parks.The developer is eyeing emerging markets including India, China and some European countries for this purpose. The company also believes Saudi Arabia to be a serious market to diversify its investment profile.
"Going forward, it's a good strategy for us to look at international markets as it helps in mitigating our risk profile," said Khalid Al Malik, Chief Executive of TatweerTatweer
. Speaking to Emirates Business in an exclusive interview, he said: "We are looking to leverage the various branded properties we have in our profile and for this we will seek co-venture in international markets as well."You have massive ventures going on. How are you overseeing the infrastructure in your various developments and what kind of co-ordination do you have with your various entities?
We have broadly categorised our projects into three regions based on the kind of project and its size. There is the Dubai Health Care City (DHCC)Dubai Health Care City (DHCC)
, Dubai Industrial City (DIC)Dubai Industrial City (DIC) the and DubailandDubailand area.Tatweer Real Estate and Zoning Department is in charge of managing two levels of co-ordination in TatweerTatweer
's projects. Firstly, we are involved in complying with external companies, such as Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Civil Aviation, Dubai Civil Defence and all the government authorities that we need to deal with in order to develop these areas. Second is the internal co-ordination in all our projects and those that our investors are building. Further, TatweerTatweer will invest Dh40 billion in infrastructure over a period of time for our projects.Real Estate Regulatory Agency has come up with a lot of regulations. What is your reaction?
We, as developers, are the real beneficiaries of all the new regulations that ReraRera
comes out with. We were one of the first companies to sign a memorandum of understanding with the agency.What steps is TatweerTatweer
taking to curb speculation within its realty projects? Do you have a policy for land re-sale within your developments?We do have a policy. If you look at our projects, especially DICDIC
, we have completely curbed land re-sale and sub-leasing unless DICDIC approves it. In that case, DICDIC will have the right to take over the land. If you look at newspaper advertisements, you will rarely find anything on DICDIC except a little commercial strip that we carry. DICDIC ensures only serious industrial users will be part of the development and DICDIC has full control over it. It is the same case with DHCCDHCC.The real estate component of our projects is governed through the MoUs that we have signed with ReraRera
, which ensures that all its rules and regulations, including the escrow account law, are followed. That is helping us to keep speculators away from our project.TatweerTatweer
is a huge developer - remember we own 3.5 billion square feet of land. We need a healthy mix of investors and end-users to make our projects successful.Re-sale is allowed in our real estate projects. We would like investors to benefit from this market and you cannot lock them out of it. But as a developer we design economic models for specific areas for re-sale to happen. Investors are good for Dubai and developers can hurt themselves if they keep them out of the market. The speculators - the ones who flip around their properties or land - are an issue today and it's important to keep them away from the market.
In all our developments, we have set time frames for developers to build on our land. So even if a developer is re-selling his land after a certain period, the new buyer is aware he has only a certain period of time left to build.
Has there been any change in the master plan of DubailandDubailand
? We had heard a while ago about some amendments to the master development. Is the project on track?Authorities have approved the master plan of DubailandDubailand
. We have changed plots within DubailandDubailand in terms of their usage and taken one project to the other side, but the larger master plan is fixed. Something as massive as DubailandDubailand cannot be largely altered.What is the update on the construction of your various projects?
All the projects that we have announced are progressing very well. Tiger Woods Dubai is on track and will be completed on the day we said it would be completed. Mizin is under-construction and on track. The infrastructure is getting ready in DICDIC
. Universal Studios is under way and one can go and see the work in progress. In DHCCDHCC, the first phase was all sold out.What are the elements you think are integral for your overseas expansion?
The first is our own internal strategy with respect to what we would like to build and where. Secondly, the political stability of the market we are going into has to be strong. From an economic perspective, we look into the stability of the country according to the business we would like to set up. We also look at competition in the overseas markets. Generally, we look at the last five years and the projected future of a country and the direction of its government. Once all this is sorted, we decide what to plug in and where.
What are the going rates at Tiger Woods Dubai? There is a lot of expectation from this project and people are speculating there will be exorbitant price tags on the villas when completed?
There are about 197 plots of different sizes for three different models to be built - palaces, mansions and villas. Sizes vary from 30,000 to 40,000 sq ft for villas, 50,000 sq ft plus for Mansions and about 100,000 sq ft for the palaces. Those are huge areas. The land price ranges between Dh800 a sq ft to Dh1,000 a square foot. In that respect, the cost of development of Tiger Woods Dubai will be considerable since it will be available for the elite class of Dubai. To date, Tiger Woods Dubai has recorded above 50 per cent sale of land.
Do you adhere to a specific policy to create transparency within TatweerTatweer
?The main issue for us regarding transparency is compliance. We are a very tough company when it comes to that. However, the right governance is already in place. We have a very strong audit/risk department that ensures we are complying with the strict standards set by TatweerTatweer
.How is the company dealing with the dearth of construction materials in the market?
We have deployed a strategy internally to deal with that issue, which is to secure our sources. The biggest issue today is commitment to a supplier and for this we have our estimates clear regarding our current and future requirements. If a developer knows how much material he requires, he can lock in a price with the supplier.
Khalid Al Malik: Chief Executive, Tatweer
Al Malik joined the Dubai Development and Investment Authority in 2003 as operations director, chairing several board-level committees of the authority such as Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental and the Dubai Government Excellence Programme.
At the end of 2004, Al Malik launched Dubai Industrial CityDubai Industrial City
, securing major industrial clients and overseeing the first phase of the project.He was appointed senior vice-president of industry and knowledge at TatweerTatweer
in December 2005, leading the delivery of the first series of Arab Business Intelligence Reports and launching key Arab events such as the Arab Strategy Forum and the annual meeting of the Young Arab Leaders. Currently, he heads some of the key projects under way in Dubai, such as DubailandDubailand, Tiger Woods Dubai, Bawadi, Global Village, Dubai Healthcare CityDubai Healthcare City, Dubai Energy, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Dubai Industrial CityDubai Industrial City, Mizin and Moutamarat.Al Malik is a keen sportsman and has an MBA in managing e-commerce.
By Anjana Kumar
© Emirates Business 24/7 2008
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