Burj dubai , burj khalifa live video opening ceremony

This is a live video from the opening ceremony of Burj Dubai (or Burj Khalifa as it is called now) - this is a ust to watch this week.

Burj Dubai / Khalifa - The World's Tallest Skyscraper - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
828 m | 2716 feet

Burj Dubai is now Burj Khalifa

Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum opened the world’s tallest tower today and renamed it after the ruler of neighboring Abu Dhabi, which bailed out Dubai during the country’s debt crisis last year.

The 200-story Burj Khalifa cost $1.5 billion to build, said Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of developer Emaar Properties PJSC. The tower takes it name from Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also president of the United Arab Emirates. While mainly residential, the building will have 37 floors of office and retail space.

During the five years of the tower’s construction the sheikhdom’s debt-fueled property market went from the world’s best performing to the worst, forcing officials to renegotiate loans and seek bailouts from Abu Dhabi. The Burj’s occupancy rate may reach 75 percent this year, with office leasing proving the biggest challenge for investors, said Roy Cherry, an analyst at investment bank Shuaa Capital PSC.

“Those who bought with the intention of leasing will face a difficult time because few companies today can justify paying premiums for luxury,” Cherry said.

Burj Khalifa has a height of 828 meters (2,717 feet), Alabbar said in a telephone interview today. Apartment prices in the tower, formerly known as Burj Dubai, have fallen to less than half of the 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) a square foot that they reached at the 2008 peak.

Burj Dubai -World's tallest building

The 828 metre (2,717 ft) supertall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is being opened with much fanfare despite the doom and gloom that has surrounded the emirate's economy in recent weeks.

Crews of cleaners today rushed to finalise preparations for the grand inauguration of the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. With batteries of fireworks and an invited crowd of 6,000 guests, the rulers of the Gulf emirate will tonight attempt to convince the world that their financial troubles have been overstated with a lavish celebration of a glass and steel building that tapers almost a kilometre into the sky.

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is expected to make a triumphal ascent of the spire-shaped tower which rises over 800m from the Arabian desert. He will announce the exact height this evening in a move intended to draw a line under the country's financial crisis, which has left a trail of outstanding creditors.

"Crises come and go, and cities move on," said Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, the state-owned developer of the building. "You have to move on. Because if you stop taking decisions, you stop growing."

With swimming pools on floors 43 and 76 and plans for the world's highest mosque on the 158th floor, the $1bn "superscraper" dwarfs both the world's previous tallest building, the 508m tall tower 101 in Taipei, and the 629m KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, the tallest man-made structure. It is so high, the temperature is said to be 10C cooler at the zenith than at the base.

But with many investors in the building's 1,044 apartments already facing losses after property prices in Dubai slumped, the Burj's owners are struggling to present their architectural achievement as anything but a pyrrhic victory. The offices and most of the flats are still an estimated two months from completion and the emirate's neighbours in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, which provided Dubai with a £15bn bailout last year, are also understood to be unimpressed at the ostentation of the building.

The fountain outside cost a reported £133m and the 160 room hotel was designed by fashion designer Georgio Armani and boasts a nightclub, two restaurants and a spa. Meanwhile, labourers on the project, including many immigrants from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, earned low wages. Skilled carpenters took home just £4.34 a day and labourers, £2.84.

Security is expected to be tight. Local newspapers quoted Major General Mohammed Eid al-Mansouri, head of the protective security and emergency unit for Dubai police, saying more than 1,000 security personnel, including plainclothes police and sharpshooters, will be deployed to secure the site for the opening.

But even by the standards of an emirate which has created miles more beach front by building vast islands from millions of tonnes of sand in the shapes of palms, the tower stands out as Dubai's most remarkable achievement. Around 12,000 people are expected to live and work in the tower which is part of a 500-acre development known as "downtown" Burj Dubai.

Alabbar said Burj Dubai was "another demonstration of Dubai's ability to achieve what few people thought possible".

"The tower is a global icon," he said. "It represents the determination and optimism of Dubai as a truly world city. It is a powerful symbol for the entire Arab world."

Dubai World - what was built with borrowed money

Are you wondering where 60 bn borrowed by Dubai World was spent?
Here is a video that will show you the bright ideas that have been turned into real things by Dubia World.

Dubai crisis - a person at a glance

Typical was the case of British developer Arthur Fitzwilliam, an affable 58-year-old polo fan from London. He had lived in Dubai for two decades, dabbling in real estate and other ventures. In 2004, he inked a deal to develop a 14.5 million-square-foot plot of desert acquired from a government-controlled company.

The Plantation Equestrian and Polo Club would have air-conditioned stables for 800 horses, four polo fields, facilities to host horse shows and a five-star hotel. Mr. Fitzwilliam sought partners to help finance the project. A British banker agreed to provide financing, in exchange for a 30% stake, Mr. Fitzwilliam said in an interview.

But in June 2008, authorities detained Mr. Fitzwilliam, the banker and one other. Then in September, Dubai Islamic Bank, or DIB, foreclosed on the land for the project. It also seized more than 100 polo ponies, Mr. Fitzwilliam said. For almost a year, he sat in jail before charges were filed. In March 2009, authorities charged seven men with scheming to defraud DIB, according to a bill of indictment filed by Dubai's public prosecutors. Mr. Fitzwilliam was accused of aiding the scheme.

Last month, he was transferred to a Dubai hospital to undergo tests for cancer. Four Dubai police officers stood guard outside his room.

Mr. Fitzwilliam denied any wrongdoing, as did the British banker he was working with. "I want a fair trial, and I'm prepared to go with the system," he says, shackled to his hospital bed. "Anyone who knows the case knows I'm not guilty."

A spokesman for the Dubai prosecutor's office didn't respond to requests for comment.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding the arrests, the crisis roiling the rest of the world was catching up with Dubai. When global credit markets froze up in late 2008, international investors stopped buying Dubai property. Some who had already bought stopped making installment payments. Nakheel and others shed staff and scrapped or delayed dozens of projects.

Last February, the troubles touched Ms. Chana's plan for a new home in Dubai. Nakheel halted work on the Palm Jebel Ali. Though dredging had been done, little construction had.

Ms. Chana says she has sunk about $550,000 into her still-unfinished home. Earlier this year, she flew to Dubai to try to salvage the investment. She is living in a hotel-apartment with her daughter, helping to organize other investors and petition Nakheel for rebates. "I just won't let this drop," she says. "It's become my obsession."

In October, Nakheel proposed that Jebel Ali investors transfer their contracts to property elsewhere that is already finished or close to it.

Simon Murphy bought a $240,000 ground-floor apartment in the Palm Jumeirah in 2002 and moved in five years later. He is now a "resident representative" to Nakheel, like being part of a homeowners board. He says that in recent weeks, Nakheel has cut back on maintenance, including tree trimming.

Since Dubai's debt-standstill announcement, Mr. Murphy says, many apartment residents have stopped paying management fees, typically around $700 a month. Nakheel declined to comment. "Most people fear that their money will go into the bottomless pit of Nakheel debt," Mr. Murphy says.

Freehold definition is under scrutiny in Dubai - Jumeirah Lake Towers is the first

The Dubai Municipality's latest statement regarding the free-zone status of Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) has marred the hopes of several thousands of residents who were under the hope of gaining housing fee exemptions.

According to an official at the Municipality, the status of JLT needs to be clarified by a decree, and that free zone claims by a developer does not imply exemption of housing fee for its residents.

The Head of Housing Fee Section at the Dubai Municipality, Abdullah Hashim, confirmed that JLT is not officially a free zone.

The residents of towers in the 'mini-Manhattan' around the man-made lakes by Nakheel have been questioning about housing fee exemption to the developer.

"Although several areas have been claimed to be free zones, they are not free zones. Media reports had stated that the free zone areas are exempt from housing fee, and JLT has been wrongly named as a free zone. But, we never said that, and this has created lot of confusion. None of the buildings there are considered to be part of a free zone," Hashim said.

He added that municipality is however, waiting for a list which could clearly stipulate the areas designated as free zones. The concerned authorities are likely to come up with such a list shortly.

Dubai Shows What A Property Plunge Really Looks Like

Here's essentially what caused Dubai's debt extravaganza to finally come to an end.

Far too much easy money flowed into Dubai during previous years, fueling a massive construction boom financed with debt. For awhile this debt looked sustainable to those involved because it was ostensibly backed by valuable property.

Yet when the global financial crisis hit, property prices fell in many parts of the world. Dubai property prices were hit especially hard.

As shown below by the skiing Emirati, Dubai property rates per square foot fell 45% from Q3 2008 to Q3 2009 according to Colliers International.

Thus just as many American's went underwater on their mortgages due to the American property crisis, owing more to the bank than their house was worth, the same thing basically happened to the Nakheel property business of the Dubai state-owned conglomerate Dubai World.

Combined with near-term cash flow constraints, this finally forced Dubai World to admit to its creditors that it would not be able to meet all of its debt obligations.

Dubai's property market could plummet by up to 30 per cent from current levels - already down 50 per cent from peak - and may take more than a decade to recover

Dubai government washes its hands of $59bn debt built up by Dubai World

The Dubai government refused to guarantee the huge debts built up by its conglomerate Dubai World, dashing investor hopes that the latest episode in the global financial crisis might be swiftly resolved.

The comments were made as the region reopened for business after the Eid holiday and local stock markets fell sharply.

Creditors, including several British banks, had been eagerly awaiting some clarification from Dubai officials since the brief announcement ahead of the long weekend on Wednesday night that Dubai World was seeking to defer repayments on its $59bn (£36bn) debt pile, but there was no comfort on offer. British banks have a $50bn exposure to the United Arab Emirates and high street names including Lloyds, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland have formed a creditors' committee seeking urgent meetings with Dubai officials.

In an interview on local television, the director general of Dubai's department of finance, Abdulrahman al-Saleh, appeared to suggest that investors only had themselves to blame for the unfolding crisis. "Creditors need to take part of the responsibility for their decision to lend to the companies," he said.

"They think Dubai World is part of the government, which is not correct. Dubai World was established as an independent company; it is true that the government is the owner, but given that the company has various activities and is exposed to various types of risks, the decision, since its establishment, has been that the company is not guaranteed by the [Dubai] government."

Dubai World is the largest of a handful of state-controlled companies and owns assets such as a profitable ports business that includes the former P&O, the QE2 liner, and the property firm behind some of the more outlandish developments of the last decade.

Fears that it could potentially default on its debts sparked turmoil on world markets at the end of last week and concerns that other heavily indebted states could be affected as investor confidence eroded, with much of the focus on Greece, Ukraine and the Baltic states.

The central bank of the United Arab Emirates yesterday sought to restore some calm by providing an emergency facility to shore up local banks, and foreign banks operating in the Emirates.

The International Monetary Fund today welcomed the move and said it continued to monitor the situation.

Dubai’s $59 Billion Default Sends Tremor Through Global Financial System

Dubai’s announcement on Wednesday that it would be delaying by “at least” six months the maturity date of $59 billion in bonds issued by the city-state’s largest state-owned company, Dubai World, has sent global shares tumbling. The market reaction to Dubai’s massive debt default is partly explained by the exposure of European and Asian banks to DP World and its tourism subsidiary, Nakheel.

The real reason for the falls, however, is that Dubai’s apparent insolvency confirms that default by hyper-indebted government borrowers is now a real risk right across the globe, especially in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Such a default would not only mean an immediate worsening of the already brutal post-crash conditions suffered by millions of workers in defaulting countries, but would usher in a second, and probably worse, phase in the global financial crisis.

If countries like Dubai begin to fail, who will save them?

As one financial crisis recedes, another may be beginning. In Dubai this week, we've had a foretaste of what may be to come as governments around the globe seek to grapple with the explosive growth of fiscal deficits and public debt.



Like everyone else, my regard for the miracle of Dubai's fast-evolving skyline has always been tempered with a high degree of scepticism. As a monument to the vanity and hubris of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai has long looked like an accident waiting to happen. Such has been the pace of development that nobody could have been surprised by the debt default now threatened. Only the assumed support of Dubai's richer neighbour Abu Dhabi, which is now far from certain, has prevented it happening sooner.

Yet the important question for markets today is not whether Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed can survive the sandstorm; in fact, that is almost irrelevant. Dubai's debts of $80 billion (£48 billion) are a tiresome and unwelcome irritant which will cause further write-downs among western banks, but in the scale of things not of great significance: Britain is planning to raise more than three times that amount in the debt markets in this financial year alone.

Rather, the issue is whether this folie de grandeur of a desert kingdom is just an isolated, and therefore containable, incident, or a more worrying outrider for a wider sovereign debt crisis which might eventually engulf major, advanced economies. Everyone thought the financial implosion of the last two years was largely behind us – yet Dubai has reminded us that if nations start defaulting, then it may be about to enter a new and even more frightening phase.

Think of Dubai not so much as the hors d'oeuvre as the pre-dinner canapé, with the starter reserved for larger economies with distressed fiscal positions, such as Greece and Ireland, moving for the main course on to Japan and possibly even Britain and the US.

Already, there are rumblings. The cost of insuring sovereign debt against default has risen across the board, and for countries thought particularly at risk, bond yields are on a firm upward march.

Across the developed world, public debt is set on an explosive course. According to new estimates by Moody's, the credit ratings agency, the total stock of sovereign debt worldwide will have risen by more than 50 per cent between the start of the financial crisis in 2007 and the end of next year, to $15.3 trillion.

But this is just the beginning. On current projections, that total is set to rise by at least a further 50 per cent, before finally peaking in four to five years' time, and then only if governments have by then taken remedial action.

These are uncharted waters, quite without precedent in peacetime. In seeking to address the financial and economic crisis of the past few years, countries have come close to bankrupting themselves. It is as if, in treating the patient, a physician has infected himself with the same deadly disease.

Perhaps oddly, financing these fast-growing deficits has not so far been a problem, at least for the major advanced economies. Risk-averse investors have spurred high demand for sovereign debt, in the possibly misguided belief that there can be no haven safer than assets guaranteed by taxpayers and the ability of their governments to print money.

More perversely still, the crisis in Dubai has caused a renewed flight to the perceived security of G7 government debt. Money is being withdrawn from the periphery and reinvested in US Treasuries, German bunds, and even British gilts.

But if the banking crisis is anything to go by, that's not where the story ends. There, too, the implosion began with smaller, obviously flawed bit-players, who had self-evidently grown too rapidly and overstretched themselves.

Markets dashed to withdraw funding from Northern Rock, but in transferring the money to the likes of the Royal Bank of Scotland found that they had invested only in something even more unstable. The Rock, it turned out, was just an outlier in a systemically unsafe sector.

If Dubai is the sovereign debt equivalent of Northern Rock, then Greece might be its Bear Stearns and Japan its Lehman Brothers. But why stop there? For Citigroup, think the US, and for RBS and HBOS, think Britain. Only there would be no one to bail out their creditors if America or Britain showed signs of defaulting.

Of course, I am exaggerating to make a point. Nobody thinks this a likely outcome, even if it ought to be added that nobody thought the semi-nationalisation of RBS and HBOS remotely likely either. The judgment of the markets is that on present trajectories, the sovereign debt burden is just about manageable. But it's touch and go.

The credit ratings agencies are just itching to downgrade some of the big hitters, alongside the obviously more vulnerable, with Britain and America the first in line. If the markets start to demand a premium for their money, that's going to make the task of economic recovery and fiscal consolidation that much tougher. At the risk of sounding like a scratched record, this crisis is not over yet – not by a long chalk.

Dubai Default - collection of links

No one saw this coming ...

From Bloomberg: Dubai Debt Delay Rattles Confidence in Gulf Borrowers

Dubai is shaking investor confidence across the Persian Gulf after its proposal to delay debt payments risked triggering the biggest sovereign default since Argentina in 2001.
...
Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s cut the ratings on state companies yesterday, saying they may consider state-controlled Dubai World’s plan to delay debt payments a default. The sheikhdom, ruled by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, borrowed $80 billion in a four-year construction boom ...

And a few articles from the WSJ: Dubai Starts to Untangle Dubai World Fallout

And European Banks Seen Exposed To Dubai World

Most banks on Thursday said their exposure to Dubai and Dubai World is small or declined to comment, but Credit Suisse analysts estimate European banks have about $40 billion in exposure to debt issued by various Dubai city-state entities, including Dubai World.

And from December 2008: Citi Voices Upbeat View on Dubai (ht jb)

With questions about Dubai's looming debt obligations swirling, Citigroup Inc. said it had raised $8 billion for the Persian Gulf city-state over the course of the past year and still had a positive outlook on its economy.

Citigroup Chairman Win Bischoff was quoted in the bank's statement Monday as saying Citigroup continues to see Dubai as among its "most significant markets."

When there are bad loans to be made, apparently Citi never sleeps.

UPDATES: Brad DeLong suggests it might be Time to Reread the History of Austria's Creditanstalt in 1931...

Interesting time. In Europe, the Creditanstalt's bankruptcy and what followed was what turned the recession into the European Great Depression...

And DeLong excerpts from a Financial Times article by Roula Khalaf: The emirate has a lot of explaining to do

And from Izabella Kaminska at the FT Alphaville: Barclays Capital ‘change their view’ on Dubai

My, my, what a difference a few weeks make.

Earlier this month — when all still seemed relatively well in the UAE emirate of Dubai — Barclays Capital was among those touting Dubai-related debt as a decent investment for clients. The bank even confidently predicted the repayment of the now infamous Nakheel sukuk.

In fact on November 4 — the day Moody’s slashed its ratings on five Dubai government related entities — BarCap analysts wrote:

We expect several developments to act as positive catalysts for Dubai’s sovereign spreads. First, the likely repayment of the Nakheel sukuk in December. Second, Dubai’s ability to raise the second USD10bn tranche with the support of Abu Dhabi. Third, a successful conclusion of the merger between Emaar and Dubai Holding, as well as a solution allowing mortgage providers Amlak and Tamweel to resume lending.

On that basis, we recommend a long position in Dubai sovereign credit and see today’s negative price actions as an opportunity to buy.

There is much more at the link.

Dubai default is about to be announced

Dubai Holding credit-default swaps rose to 1,175 basis points from 1,085 basis points, CMA Datavision prices show. CMA started to track Dubai credit swap at the beginning of this year.

Lending and investment banking in the Gulf are declining as oil prices and stock markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are hit by the worst global economic slump since the 1930s. Dubai is also bracing for a real-estate slowdown after a five-year boom as banks cut back on mortgage loans and speculators exit the market.

The largest state-owned companies in the United Arab Emirates -- of which Dubai is one of seven sheikhdoms -- have $20 billion of debt due this year, according to a Merrill Lynch & Co. report published in October.

“Will Abu Dhabi’s government, or even the federal government, follow this step by supporting banks in other emirates?” analysts led by Sofia El Boury at Shuaa Capital PSC, the U.A.E.’s biggest investment bank, wrote in a note released today. “At this point, we do not have a clear direction of how things will proceed.”

A view - Lisa Strotts

IT was a bubble waiting to burst. For all the glitz and glamour, something about Dubai made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.

When I first visited four years ago Dubai was already a good few years into its frenzy of construction.

The city seemed to me no more than a dusty building site - it screamed environmental disaster.

Everywhere luxury hotels, apartment complexes and more were being thrown up with gay abandon.

As we toured one concrete and glass monstrosity after another I questioned who would fill the thousands of hotel beds.

The scale of the construction came crashing home to me, literally, as I took a breather from a late party at the luxury One & Only Royal Mirage Hotel.

It was 3am and as I strolled down to the beach the sound of the sea was drowned out by hammering.

Guests paying thousands of pounds were trying to sleep as workers toiled away building a hotel next door.

Millions of Brits WERE enjoying holidays in Dubai - drawn by the attainable luxury promoted by hotels including the iconic sail-shaped seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel.

Scorching weather was a given, hotel standards blew traditional Med resorts out of the water - if you didn't fancy any culture or natural wonder it was a great bet.

But as time went on and tourist numbers increased the nagging feeling kept returning. Why, four years after I first saw man-made archipelago The World, was it unfinished and unsold?

Deals to hotels previously thousands of pounds a night began arriving in my inbox.Dubai was on sale.

With the credit crunch, visitor numbers plummeted.

Officially, Brit visitors are down four per cent this year - unofficially, travel experts say it is nearer 15 per cent.

The famous QE2 ocean liner retired last year by Cunard, supposed to become a floating luxury hotel, may end up on the scrap heap.

Plans for Dubai versions of four American theme parks are now on ice.

The practice of pumping salt back into the sea from desalination plants has allegedly all but destroyed aquatic life close to shore.

Apart from sunshine and expensive shops, I can't see a reason to visit Dubai and many other destinations offer that - and more.

Until Dubai offers more than just ostentatious hotels with views of cranes its troubles could get a LOT worse.

What Dubai World owns?

What Dubai World owns

DUBAI PORTS WORLD: World's fourth largest port operator whose investments include Port Of Tilbury in Essex, Southampton Container Terminals, Churchill Dock in Belgium and Port Of Djibouti in Africa.

NAKHEEL PROPERTIES: Developer of The Palm Jumeirah (including Atlantis, The Palm hotel), World Islands, Universe Islands and owns retired ocean liner QE II.

LEISURE CORP: Owns PGA European Tour venues such as Jumeirah Golf Estates and South Africa's Pearl Valley Golf Estates.

ISTITHMAR WORLD: Dubai World investment arm that owns American department store Barneys.

Dubai World spent the boom years hoovering up trophy assets around the world, including golf courses and hotels.

Their subsidiaries own everything from Barneys department store in the US to the QEII liner. These could now be sold off as Dubai's sheikhs scramble to raise cash.

The financial problems stem from a massive bubble in Dubai's housing market - and the Ј36billion debt taken on by Dubai World during their buying spree.

Dubai is unable to repay $70 bn of debt... Another crisis?

Debt problems in Dubai struck financial markets hard on Thursday, sinking global stocks, lifting safe-haven bonds and driving the dollar higher.

Gold climbed to a new record high but fell back as the dollar rose. European shares had their worst daily loss in seven months.

Banking stocks came under particular pressure because of potential exposure to any bad debt in the Gulf, as did shares in European car companies, some of which are part-owned by sovereign wealth funds from the region.

Markets were trading without much input from the United States, where it was the Thanksgiving holiday.

Dubai said on Wednesday it wanted creditors of Dubai World and property group Nakheel to agree a debt standstill as it restructures Dubai World, the conglomerate that spearheaded the emirate's breakneck growth.

The announcement triggered widespread concern about the once-booming Gulf region's financial health, although some investors differentiated between leveraged Dubai and other more solidly wealthy emirates and countries in the region.

But the worries fed directly into a general nervousness in financial markets about the real state of the world economy at a time when investors are also seeking to lock in 2009 profits.

"The Dubai worries have played a major role in rattling market sentiment at a time when the U.S. is closed and we are not getting anything from anywhere else," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.

"It is a day in which market uncertainty has been provoked again."

Others, such as Royal Bank of Scotland, said Dubai's bombshell meant investors would now have to "re-appraise the quality of sovereign support for state-owned entities in the region."

Dubai sought to ease some concerns about international port operator DP World DPW.DI, saying its debt was not included in the restructuring.

But markets stayed nervous and the cost of insuring debt through credit default swaps around the Gulf rose.

Dubai Property Prices Rise 7%

Dubai property prices rose in the third quarter for the first time since the emirate's property market crashed late last year, but are still almost 50% lower than a year earlier, U.K.-based real estate consultancy Colliers International said Tuesday.

Prices increased 7% between July and September from the second quarter -- the first price jump since the market fell from its peak in the third quarter of 2008, Colliers said in its quarterly price index, which collates mortgage transactions on properties open to foreign ownership since the start of 2007.

Here is a post from Emirates City Forum:


I was advised to contact my developer - and request that all PDC's be returned, which I would replace with cheques issued to the new Escrow account. Have been trying to contact the developer, and they say they need more time to set up the Escrow Account. My developer is Sweethomes.

Also, there was a post on Skyscraper City by Ajman_Lover - as follows - about the newly set up AJMAN RERA .... I am reposting below;

A good news for eveybody. From one of my real estate friend, I got some information about AJMAN RERA. The fulflashed office is started in OLD MUNICIPALITY BUILDING & full flash customer supprt office for AJMAN RERA started. Anybody affected peron can visit beween 8 AM to 2.00 PM at their office to lodge your compalint. The staff is very supportive to listen.

Still the office telephone number is not publised officially, so i am not liable for any change/authorised or not. But in interest of my beloved Ajman reputation among investors, anybody can try 009716-7444144 ( Telephone) & 06-7444145 ( Fax ).

One customer support executive communicate me that no need to pay any rest amount direct to developer. Lodge your complaint with the name of developer, who still not register for AJMAN ESCROW account,& this AJMAN RERA seems connected with Ajman rulars Court( Division of property Regulation).

So, give a big hand to AJMAN GOVT. for great initative & don't write bad for AJMAN.

The rest matters better you speak to AJMAN RERA suppott executive regarding PDC cheques return, CONSTRUCTION BASED PAYMENT etc. as I am not a investor.

Dynasty Zarooni is involved in the fraud

Dubai’s Public Prosecution is detaining Kabir Mulchandani, chairman of Dynasty Zarooni Real Estate, amid allegations he defrauded investors of up to 450 million U.A.E. dirhams ($123 million), according to lawyers for the investors, government officials and one of his business partners.

The first case relates to allegations that he conned a small group of wealthy investors into pledging large sums of money with the promise of a hefty monthly return.

The second case involves the selling of property at the AED2 billion Ebony and Ivory development in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lake Towers district. According to Salem Al Shaali, the lawyer handling the case at Dubai-based Al Shaali & Co., Mulchandani took deposits for 20% of the property but failed to deliver the project.

What is happening in Dubai Property Sector?

With Dubai property sector undergoing a transitional phase, companies are reviewing their project strategies, and developers are more cautious with their future investments on projects, as several mega-developments are now being reviewed.

For instance, Nakheel has announced that parts of the Dh.350bn Jumeirah Garden City, the Trump International Hotel, the Tower on Palm Jumeirah, and the kilometer-high tower will be put on hold.

Even work on 'The Universe' will be restricted to preliminary studies, Nakheel said. Decrease in liquidity and financing has led to delay in progress of such projects, resulting in these projects bearing the brunt of financial turmoil. The mega-projects that had earlier brought about a property boom in Dubai, have now been put on hold.

Limitless too, revealed that it is reviewing construction schedule of Arabian Canal. The Head of Dubai's RERA, Marwan bin Galita, said that developers need to review their projects which are yet to be launched for sale. Recession is a very crucial phase, and RERA had been urging developers to do this about a year back, Galita said.

The Chairman of Crisis Management Committee, Mohammad al Abbar, last week said that it would pull back on its building spree due to the current financial crisis. Apart from backing out of its projects, Nakheel has also laid off 500 employees, constituting 15 percent of the company's work-force. All the 500 employees were offered redundancy package, including outplacement support services to assist them during this transitional phase.

Better Homes, Damac and Omniyat too, have followed suit, with Better Homes axing 50 jobs, Omniyat with 69 jobs, and Damac laid off 200 jobs, with the drop in demand for properties.
Meeras however, said that it does not have plans for lay-offs at the moment.

According to analysts, about 819 employees have lost their jobs in the Dubai real estate sector till date, with more to follow. However, the Head of Research and Consultancy at Cluttons, Matthew Green, said that these happenings are not restricted to the realty sector alone, and few other major corporate too, have announced staff reductions.

In the meanwhile, the time is now appropriate for small developers to join hands to bring confidence back into the market, say analysts.

A member of Financial Crisis Committee said that Dubai has been witnessing plenty of defaults on high-end properties with worsening financial conditions, and there are possibilities of merger among smaller developers. Even Head of RERA, Marwan bin Galita, agrees that merger between small companies would bring in more confidence, as good mergers in any sector adds more value to the sector.

The developers, Union Properties and Deyaar, although denied talks about any plans of merger, they were unable to comment on whether the government would order their merger.

Secondary prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi fell 4 to 5 percent in October from the previous month, while the villa prices of Dubai dropped by 19 percent, under strict lending conditions, according to a recent HSBC statement.

The "off-plan" market is not doing too well, due to market speculations. Few of the banks have stopped financing, while few developers are said to be demanding exorbitant prices. However, the prices of "affordable" off-plan properties may pick-up during second quarter of 2009, if the banks improve on their lending, Bin Galita said.

RERA is likely to implement a new law on registration of off-plan properties next week.

On the whole, Dubai real estate sector has met with stringent mortgage lending measures, liquidity crunch, and real estate slowdown during recent months. The indications of property boom in Dubai, have atleast, temporarily halted, and developers are seen scaling back on their projects, while jobs are cut and property prices have plummeted.