AMMAN -- The core phase of the Abdali Urban Regeneration Project will be ready by the summer of next year, developers said on Tuesday.
According to Mouhib Itani, the chief executive officer of the Abdali Investment and Development, the owner of the project, the boulevard will open in August 2010.
The boulevard, the heart of the new Abdali downtown, consists of 12 building, 9 and 11 floors high, featuring retail outlets, hotels, restaurants, residential apartments and offices.
Although the entire venture is expected to be ready by 2015, Itani sees 90 per cent of the $5 billion project completed in 2012.
The Abdali project, developed on 384,000 square metres of land and a total of 1.7 million square metres of built-up area, will include the highest tower in the Kingdom at 220 metres, in addition to parking lots that can accommodate some 25,000 vehicles, Itani told reporters during a press tour of the site.
He pointed that some residential apartments have already been sold, noting that 85 per cent of the tower executed by Damac, Dubai-based contracting company, have been sold out.
More than 28 local and regional investors are involved in the project, including Damac, Al Abdali Boulevard Company, Saraya, Madaen Al Noor, Al Hamad, Rotana and Tameer International, he added.
Acknowledging that three developing companies in the project have experienced financial difficulties due to short of credit facilities, Itani stressed that despite the global economic crisis, no developers have withdrawn from the project.
"The Jordanian government has provided developers with some tax reductions as well as customs exemptions," the chief executive officer noted.
"Currently, there are around 1,500 mostly Jordanian workers and engineers on the site," he indicated, noting that the number will increase to 8,000 next year.
Itani said the project will position Amman as one of the world's most advanced business and retail destinations.
The Abdali company was formed in 2004 as partnership between the government-owned real estate developer National Resources and Development Corporation (MAWARED) and Horizon, an international construction conglomerate specialised in investment and development of large scale real estate and construction projects.
The joint venture was further enlarged when the United Real Estate Company, under the group of Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO), joined as a partner.
By Omar Obeidat
© Jordan Times 2009
