Global Arab Network | Al-Futtaim to develop major Festival City project in Morocco

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

Al-Futtaim to develop major Festival City project in Morocco

Global Arab Network - - Maha Karim

Sunday, 14 June 2009 23:56

Al-Futtaim Capital of Dubai announced today it is in the final stages of acquiring a 7 million square metre plot of land in Bouznika, Morocco, to develop a master-planned community encompassing a mix of residential, retail and leisure facilities.

This will be Al-Futtaim’s third large scale mixed use project in the region following the success of Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City.

Once the master plan is finalised, the Dubai-based conglomerate will seek the relevant governmental approvals before officially launching the project next year.

The project is located half way between the capital city of Rabat and Casablanca, the country’s business hub, with a 5.5 kilometre frontage on the busiest highway of the country that connects the two cities.

This will be the second investment forming part of Al-Futtaim MENA Real Estate Development Fund and will include some of the elements found within the highly acclaimed Festival City concept.

The scheme in Morocco will also incorporate Al-Futtaim’s leading retail brands as an integral part of the development.

Omar A Al-Futtaim, Chief Executive Officer, Al-Futtaim said: “By expanding into Morocco, we have a great opportunity to grow despite the slowdown in the global economy. There is strength, diversity and depth to the Moroccan economy and we see many good reasons to be confident about our investment. This acquisition gives us a foothold in Morocco that we intend to build on.

“Morocco is on track to achieve a GDP growth rate above 5% for 2009, one of the highest in the world, which is a testament to the country’s strong leadership and fundamentals.”

Marwan Shehadeh, Managing Director, Al-Futtaim Capital added: “HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco has stated that it‘s his firm intention to ensure that all public policies are strategically devoted to developing the middle class, so that it can be the foundation of the social structure, the basis of stability and a powerful catalyst for production and creativity. Al-Futtaim’s vision for this project is in line with the government’s focus on meeting the demand of the middle income population of the country.”

According to the ministry of housing, Morocco currently has an undersupply of homes of more than one million and each year over one hundred thousand new families enter the market. Based on King Mohamed VI directives, the Moroccan government has launched several programmes that are focused on providing homes to Morocco’s low-to middle-income housing segment.

The project announced today by Al-Futtaim Capital will cater to this segment of the market.

Morocco's diverse and open economy has served it well during these challenging times. With an unemployment rate at its lowest in five years as well as a young, well-educated and growing population, Morocco is one of the most attractive markets in the MENA region. It has the second-largest non-oil GDP in the Arab world, and the second largest GDP per capita in North Africa.

Global Arab Network

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network