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Pal Group Plans $1.4b Pakistan Property Project

ABU DHABI - The Pal Group of Abu Dhabi plans to break ground in December on a $1.4 billion mixed-use real estate project in an upscale neighbourhood of Lahore, Pakistan, a top company official said on Wednesday.

The project, called “Time Square,” will include 17 office and apartment towers, a five-star hotel and a shopping mall. To build it, Pal has formed a joint-venture with Pakistan’s Defense Housing Authority, a property developer affiliated with that country’s armed forces. Time Square would be one of the largest foreign-invested real estate developments in Pakistan, the UAE company’s Head of International Projects Ahmed Kamal told Khaleej Times.

The Defense Housing Authority, known as DHA, has developed similar affluent housing districts in Pakistan’s commercial hub Karachi and in its capital Islamabad.

DHA will contribute a total of 48 acres of land for Time Square, while Pal will provide the financing and expertise, Kamal said.

He declined to specify the partners’ respective shares in the venture, though he said that Pal holds a majority stake. The Pal Group is a privately owned concern with interests in construction, hospitality, utilities and the entertainment industry, as well as property.

Several other UAE property companies, particularly those exposed to Dubai’s collapsed commercial property market, are also looking overseas for opportunities.

Some have announced deals in Saudi Arabia, which has suffered much less than Dubai from the property downturn, and in Tunisia and other nations in North Africa.

Upon completion, Time Square is to consist of around 1,888 duplex apartments, town houses and luxury villas, six office towers, a 21-floor five-star hotel and one of the city’s biggest shopping malls.

The project, on the outskirts of Lahore, will be developed in four phases and finished by 2016, Kamal said.

Work on the first phase, to start this December, will produce two office towers, two residential towers and a retail podium. The second phase will see construction of 11 additional towers, including one with 42 stories. Five of the towers, each 29 stories tall, will be inter-connected by bridges, Kamal said.

A central feature of Time Square will be a tree-lined retail avenue with food and beverage outlets and small bazaars. The joint-venture plans to build a luxury hotel complex with 600 rooms in the third phase and to add a seven-floor shopping mall in the final phase. Pal Group expects to pay for the project using its own funds and by pre-selling some of the units and borrowing from banks, he said.

haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com