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ORA Developers announced on Thursday that main construction works have commenced for the first phase of its flagship BAYN development in Ghantoot, Abu Dhabi.
The 1.9 billion UAE dirhams ($517 million) Phase 1 contract was awarded to Dubai-based United Engineering Construction (UNEC).
ORA said mobilisation has commenced, with construction officially starting on 1 June 2026.
Phase 1 scope
The contract covers construction of 614 residential units, including townhouses and standalone villas across Cluster B – Y Waterway; Cluster C – Y Lagoon; Cluster D – Y Lagoon II.
The scope also includes associated infrastructure and landscape works.
The overall contract duration is 31 months, with intermediate milestones planned for each cluster.
Delivery of Phase 1 is scheduled to begin from December 2028, according to previous statements from the developer.
ORA said enabling works for Cluster B – Y Waterway have been completed. Cluster C – Y Lagoon has reached 70 percent completion while Cluster D – Y Lagoon II has reached 20 percent completion. Cluster A – The Views stands at 5 percent completion.
Project team
NMDC is executing enabling works for BAYN, including ground improvement and earthworks, under an AED 300 million ($38 million) contract awarded in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Consultants working on Phase 1 include Mace (overall project management), 10 Design (masterplan and architectural concept design), Dewan Architects + Engineers (lead villas multidisciplinary design consultant and architect of record), AECOM (construction supervision), Currie & Brown (cost consultancy) and WSP (lead masterplan, infrastructure, landscape and water bodies design consultant).
The combined value of the consultancy contracts is AED 150 million ($40.84 million).
Including Phase 1 main contract, ORA Developers' total contract awards for BAYN development currently stands at AED 2.35 billion ($639.89 million).
Doubling the masterplan
Unveiled in April 2025, the BAYN masterplan spans an area of 4.8 million square metres (sqm). It encompasses 9,000 residential units ranging from mansions to apartments, a 1.2-kilometre private beachfront, a man-made lagoon, a 204-berth marina, and a 108,000 sqm sports club.
In April 2026, ORA Developers had announced the acquisition of an additional 4.8 million sqm of land in Ghantoot from Modon Holding, doubling its total development footprint to 9.6 million sqm. The expanded masterplan is expected to drive a total project investment of 30 billion UAE dirhams ($8.17 billion) upon full development.
According to the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre (ADREC) 2025 market report, BAYN generated AED 2.7 billion in residential sales in 2025, placing ORA Developers among the top 3 developers in Abu Dhabi for that year, and BAYN among the top 10 projects.
(Writing by Bhaskar Raj; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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