By IANS,
Dubai : Pakistan has invited investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to invest in its low-cost housing project announced by its Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani last month.
“There is an annual demand of 850,000 housing units in Pakistan while the maximum production is about 350,000 units,” reports quoted Pakistan’s Minister for Housing and Works Rehmatullah Kakar as telling the Pakistan Business Council here.
“It is the right time to invest in low-cost housing project in Pakistan through public-private sector partnership as the government offers various incentives to investors through one-window operation,” he said, adding that the country has received encouraging response from investors in Britain, France, Spain, Korea and the US so far.
Kakar said his ministry was in touch with leading UAE groups to invest in the mega project under which one million housing units would be built annually through joint ventures, build-operate-transfer (BOT) and turnkey operation modes.
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Abu Dhabi to have new central business district
Leading UAE real estate developer Mubadala Development Company has announced the launch of its latest initiative, Sowwah Square, a flagship commercial development on Sowwah Island in Abu Dhabi, a joint venture between it and The John Buck Company.
Sowwah Island is the location earmarked by the urban framework plan, Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 for Abu Dhabi’s new central business district, the company said in a statement.
Tom Healy, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), announced that it would be the first tenant of Sowwah Square.
“The ADX is delighted to be the anchor tenant of Sowwah Square,” Healy said.
“We… are looking forward to a long and successful future at our fantastic new headquarters building.”
The new area will be a commercial development containing over 570,000 square metres of office, hotel and retail amenities.
According to the statement, apart from the ADX headquarters, Sowwah Square would be home to four high rise office towers, totalling 285,000 square metres of dedicated office space, a 300-seat auditorium, a five-star business hotel with serviced apartments and exclusive parking for over 5,200 vehicles.
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Dubai signs $3.2-bn water, power deals
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced it has signed deals for six new mega projects, worth a total of 12 billion dirhmas ($3.2 billion), in the areas of power generation and water desalination.
Some of the projects, signed with leading national and international companies, will be finished in 2009, while the rest will be completed by 2010.
“The growing interest in alternative energy sources is a big step forward that should be supported by the introduction of relevant legislation,” said Abdullah Al Amiri, chairman of the Emirates Energy Award Committee, an offshoot of the Dubai Quality Group, in a statement.
“We should take all necessary measures to protect the environment and forestall further deterioration of the earth resulting from the detrimental effects of global warming,” he added.
According to a report in the Gulf News, this Middle East metropolis has seen a significant rise in utility requirements.
The emirate’s power consumption in 2007 was 24,756 gigawatts compared to 21,475 GW in 2006 and the number of consumers was 403,669 compared to 339,900 in 2006.
Water consumption in 2007 was 72,588 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD), compared to 64,961 MIGD in 2006, with the number of consumers at 331,318 compared to 279,247 in 2006.