Damac announces Kurdistan project
Attracted by the offer of free land and relative political stability, Damac Properties yesterday announced it will build a Dh55 billion (US$18.3bn) mixed-use development in the northern Iraq region of Kurdistan.
Tarin Hills, to be located 18km from Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil, will be the largest development the country has ever seen. It would also be the second-largest project for Damac, which was now involved in its seventh Middle Eastern country, said Hussain Sajwani, the chairman of the Dubai-based developer.
“We found that Kurdistan was one of the easiest places in the region to work with,” said Mr Sajwani. “We found a big co-operation with the government when it came to regulation, location, investment.”
Damac will build 8,000 units across 15.79 million square metres at Tarin Hills.
When the third phase is complete, a decade from now, the development will house 50,000 people in a variety of accommodations including Mediterranean-style villas, townhouses and apartments.
Plans also call for 1,000 offices, business and county lodge hotels, retail outlets, entertainment and health components, a spa and an 18-hole golf course.
The development will also offer major security coverage, including fences, checkpoints, high-technology screening at the entrance gates and around the clock security patrols.
Kurdistan has been advertised by its regional government as “the other Iraq” in recent years, with its five million people experiencing limited violence, in part because of its sectarian and political homogeneity.
Shared oil revenues have allowed the region to start its reconstruction and development programmes well before Iraq’s other, volatile regions.
Last year, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) passed an investment law that offers generous incentives to outside investors, including tax and customs duty exemptions, repatriation and partnerships. Giving land is one of these incentives, meaning Damac will build on land it received for free.
The provision of free land would be the only financial involvement by the KRG, said Herish Muharam Muhamad, the chairman of the regional board of investment. It would be up to Damac to secure infrastructure, he added.
Development in Kurdistan is managed and financed by the regional government, which has been doing all it can to attract foreign investment.
“The federal system is something new in the country and it takes time to understand the regional and federal rights,” said Nechirvan Barzani, who has been the regional government’s prime minister since he was elected in January 2006.
“As for us, we encourage free market and private sector, and foreigners and Iraqi people can buy freehold properties in all Kurdistan,” he said.
Full story: http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080603/BUSINESS/35087646/-1/ART
