Khalifa City Development

The project, developed in Khalifa City, near Abu Dhabi, was founded on the plan mooted by an international urban planning taskforce, which has two key objectives: to create a comprehensive urban plan to guide the evolution of the city into 2030, and to make recommendations regarding the most effective regulatory and institutional framework to manage the urban development of the city.
The new capital will be a contemporary Arab city reflecting a sustainable economy, rather than uncontrolled growth. The city will respect, be scaled to, and shaped by the natural environment of sensitive coastal and desert ecosystems. In addition, its urban fabric and community infrastructure will enable the social and cultural values of its future inhabitants.
As for the current increase in the residential and office rents that has put great pressure on family budgets and further caused an increase in the pricing of various products, Al Ahbabi added: “The increase in rents is mainly attributed to large sums of money entering the investment market in the form of institutions and companies after they were lying in banks. As a result of the developments in the private sector and the encouraging regulations in the recent years, these sums were taken out of banks and invested in various activities, which led to an increase in the demand for residential units. Although there were new buildings under construction, they did not meet the demand, especially considering that the percentage of demand is constantly higher, while the new buildings need time to be completed. The average time needed for a building under construction to be completed can be as long as two years, which represents a long gap between supply and demand, and it raises prices.”