$27B Bawadi Hotel Project Breaks Ground

DUBAILAND-Planned for a year, the Bawadi hospitality and tourism development here has broken ground on what the developer says will be the longest strip of hotels in the world. The 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) corridor in Dubailand will have 31 hotels totaling 29,200 rooms, along with 100 theaters and 1,500 restaurants.

The project’s centerpiece, the Asia-Asia hotel resort, will have 6,500 rooms and will rank as the largest hotel in the world, says Saeed Al Muntafiq, CEO of Tatweer, the project’s developer and the real estate subsidiary of Dubai Holding. Tatweer is investing Dh40 billion (US $11 billion) and outside investors are expected to put up the remaining Dh60 billion (US $16 billion), Muntafiq says. No bond or public issues will be involved in financing the Dh100-billion (US $27-billion) project, he says.

The first Dh4-million (US $1.08-million) phase, involving infrastructure, is scheduled for completion by 2010, according to Arif Mubarak, CEO of the Bawadi Project. The work will include installation of energy, water, waste handling and transportation systems. “The infrastructure work for Bawadi is a vital component that needs to be implemented competently before construction of the buildings can begin,” Mubarek says.

Tatweer will own and develop 12 hotels totaling 12,450 rooms. The remaining 19 hotels totaling 16,750 rooms will be developed by outside investors and managed by leading global hospitality groups. Contract negotiations with those groups and local and international investors are ongoing, according to Mubarek. He says equity interests valued at more than Dh30 billion (US $8.1 billion) in some of the properties already have been sold to outside investors.

The hotel projects will be developed in five phases to complement the growth of the tourism inflow to Dubai, Mubarek says. Five hotels are scheduled for completion by 2010; six by 2011; seven by 2012; another seven in 2013; and six in 2014. The planned 29,200 rooms will double Dubai’s existing guest space.

Tatweer CEO Muntafiq says the Bawadi project was conceived to keep pace with Dubai’s expected tourism growth. By 2015, for example, he says the tourist inflow is expected to reach more than 15 million visitors. Tourist arrivals in 2005 totaled six million.