Nurai Project in Arabian Sea on Track, Says Zaya Chief

Nurai, a luxury real estate project being built on a private island in the Arabian Sea, is on track despite economic downturn. The global meltdown has affected the mortgages, but overall, the project located on Nurai Island, which comprises a retreat, water villas and waterfront estates with price tags ranging from Dh55-65 million, is on line to be completed in December 2010. Nadia Zaal, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Zaya, which is building the project, told reporters that the island development will be built five month ahead of schedule. Spread over 3 million square feet and located in the Arabian Sea, the luxurious project is 25 minutes away by boat from Al Reem Island and 15 minutes from Saadiyat Island. It will consist of 31-beachfront estates and 36-water villas, and a boutique retreat. Nadia showed reporters the first beachfront estate as the project has picked up construction pace,ignoring the heat of global downturn. Out of 67-properties offered to foreign investors on a 99-year lease last year, 40-boutique housing units have already been sold out to mostly Europeans, Asians, though Emiratis have not shown that much interest.

A boutique retreat and spa/fitness centre, called Zaya Retreat, with 45-water villas, is integral part of the project, which is being financed by a consortium of national financial institutions. The project, which has been designed on the patron of Maldivian and Mauritian resorts, would generate sales revenue exceeding $1 billion once the development is complete. Nurai, meaning light in Arabic was founded by Nadia, a young entrepreneur, who launched it in May 2008 while construction began in November. The CEO of Zaya said that property buyers are allowed to rent out their units as a 6-7 per cent rental yield is projected. The project has its own electricity generation plant of 15 megawatt capacity besides water desalination unit. The Nurai project is Zaya’s first development in a series of luxury projects to be built in the Middle East and Asia and talks with parties are progressing to acquire land in Dubai, Doha, Oman and India to build similar residential and commercial projects, Nadia said. Zaya is a joint venture between Tasameem Real Estate, an Abu Dhabi based conglomerate with $15 billion worth portfolio spread across Europe and Assas LLC, an investment holding focused on premium and luxury developments.