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Sobha's $5b natural island project set to draw 25,000 residents, transform UAQ

Current development spreads across 1.5 square kilometres of land area

The $5 billion first phase of Sobha Siniya Island, a luxury development on one of the largest natural islands in the UAE, will welcome more than 25,000 residents across 8,000 units on completion.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Francis Alfred, managing director of Sobha Realty, said 'the one-of-its-kind iconic development' off the Umm Al Quwain coast will set a new benchmark on preserving nature when building opulent and high-quality residential and commercial spaces.

“The Siniya Island is an untapped gem with immense natural heritage, which we aim to showcase to the world through Sobha Siniya, a joint venture with Umm Al Quwain Properties. The development is set to positively transform the city of UAQ, and attract superior-quality developments, thereby improving the residents’ standard of living,” says Alfred.

The link bridge to the island is almost complete and dredging works have already commenced, which is vital to the creation of Sobha Siniya’s boat mooring villas and marinas. The onsite infrastructure will begin this quarter and building works are expected to start in Q2 of 2025.

Phase one of the project, which aims to facilitate luxury island living amidst a natural living environment surrounded by a wide variety of flora and fauna species that are a part of the island’s natural habitat, is slated for completion in another two years, by December 2027, Alfred says.

“We can achieve such a fast turnaround time due to Sobha Realty’s unique backward integrated model, which enhances efficiency across the diverse phases of design, engineering, and construction. Moreover, our highly skilled and dedicated in-house teams are already working on the Sobha Siniya Island development,” he said.

The Sobha Siniya Island is connected to the mainland via a bridge that is around 1.2 km in length. The current development spreads across 1.5 square kilometres of land area, with lagoons of over 5.0 kilometres in length. “As a mixed-use development of residential – apartments, villas, mansions, and two luxury resorts that is ideal for community living --- it will feature parks, shopping malls, educational institutions, public and private beaches, water sports centres, a golf course, as well as marinas and a yacht club. In addition, most of the residential units will be located over water, with a stunning coastline spanning at least 12 kilometres,” says Alfred.

The development will also feature two clubhouses, one for the villas and another one for the rest of the community.

The Sobha official said apartments are priced from $300,000, an exceptional entry price for luxury real estate investors. Villas starting with four bedrooms are priced from $2.88 million and have been well-received by clients. “Although we do not position ourselves as an affordable luxury brand, we always strive to ensure that we offer our clients fairly priced properties,” Alfred said.

“We received an overwhelmingly positive response from clients after the initial launch of 200 apartments and 200 villas, followed by four more launches. So far, the development has attracted a diverse client pool encompassing Emiratis, Indians, British, Americans, Russians, and French nationals,” said Alfred.

Last year, Sobha Realty achieved $ 4.24 billion in sales transactions in Dubai, and this year we anticipate over $ 5 billion in gross output.

Overall, the developer has around 40 million sq. ft of projects under construction, which is around 22,000 units. Similarly, Alfred said 20 million sq. ft of developments are currently in the design phase, impacting its gross output.