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Hydra Properties Reassessing Some of its Projects

ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi-based developer Hydra Properties is reassessing some of its projects due to the ongoing economic downturn and reduced investor interest in its properties, the company’s chief said on Sunday.

Ali Bin Sulayem, Hydra’s Chief Executive Officer, did not specify the timing of the reassessment or give details about which projects might be shelved. He did offer that there would be no reason to build a project if it was only 10 per cent sold.

Hydra, which is owned by the royal family of Abu Dhabi, has announced 13 housing and commercial projects in the capital and in Dubai over the past three years. Construction work is progressing at 11 of them, with piling work in process or already complete, said Engr Hamad Al Ameri, the company’s Operations Director.
The company has come under fire recently from investors who accuse it of slow construction progress and of jacking up the prices for 
its properties.

The Hydra executives spoke to reporters during a tour of the flagship project Hydra Village’s site on Dubai road near Shahama. Construction work is underway Zone 7 of the project, where 300 villas are 60 per cent built. The properties are to be delivered in January 2010. The whole project, with a planned 2,508 villas, is scheduled for completion by the 
end of 2011.

Hydra organised the tour as part of an effort to reassure property buyers who have recently raised concerns.

Graeme Perry is one such unhappy investor. He accuses Hydra of raising the prices at which it has already agreed to sell villas. Perry told Khaleej Times that Hydra has boosted prices for some villas by as much as Dh170,000, citing a change on the master plan that enlarges the built-up area for the project.

Al Ameri, Hydra’s Operations Director, acknowledged that there has been a slight change to the master plan for Hydra Village, in which the built-up area has been increased by around 5 per cent, in line with guidelines from the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. The company is charging additional money for that extra built-up area, he said.

Perry said he has seen no proof of such an enlargement in the 
built-up area.

However, Al Ameri denied that Hydra has breached any agreement signed with property buyers regarding the price and design of its villas. There was no agreement, he said. “Instead, it was just a reservation,” or booking, of properties by the investors, Al 
Ameri said.

haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com