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Nakheel to build $68b ‘Sugar Land City’ in Karachi

ABU DHABI - Nakheel, the real estate major, will develop a mega real estate project in Karachi,

Pakistan's financial capital, where a new waterfront project, Sugar Land City, involving an investment exceeding $68 billion has been approved by the Pakistan government last week.

“The master plan to develop Sugar Land City at Hawkesbay on Karachi outskirts has been finalised,” Syed Mustafa Kamal, the Karachi Nazim (Mayor), has been quoted by media reports as saying. According to Pakistan media reports, the project will spread over 60,000 acres.

Briefing reporters about a meeting held in Islamabad to review the waterfront project, Kamal said an agreement would be signed with Nakheel Group next month. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had given the approval for this project.

Karachi, an ever-expanding metropolis, has emerged as a major investment hub of Asia, where several UAE companies have made heavy investments in real estate, banking, portfolio investment, manufacturing and services sector.

The landmark visit to Pakistan last year by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, saw signing of two separate MoUs to develop two Island cities close to the coast of Karachi.

Pakistan's federal cabinet has already approved the project. The two cities will be developed in phases, over the next ten years.

Last year, Emaar, a global real estate giant, created a big impact in the real estate market of Islamabad and Karachi, when it launched a $2.4 billion housing project, which was sold out in few hours of its initial offering.

Islamabad has two Emaar projects — the Highlands and Canyon Views, spread over 1,500 acres.

The project will offer 9,000 luxury single-family town homes and villas in a range of architectural styles with easy access to amenities, including retail centres, community club houses, parks, lakes, schools and mosques.

Karachi will have another project called Crescent Bay, a 75-acre development featuring high and mid-rise towers for residential and commercial use, a shopping centre and five-star beach-front hotel.

The towers will have nearly 4,000 residential apartments.