Meydan mega project on course

Dubai: Meydan, one of the region’s largest integrated horse-racing facilities, may be going with the times and slowing the development of its mega project Meydan City down a notch.

* Saeed Al Tayer with Shili Yu, Managing Director of Guangsha Middle East Construction (right) and Jiafei Li, Deputy President of Guangsha Middle East Construction, and a model of the Meydan Metropolic Business Park phase one. * Image Credit: MEGAN HIRONS MAHON/Gulf News

However, it allows the developer to get the most reliable partners on board and look for more opportunities further afield.

The developer tenders all its project components to give everyone a fair chance and to get the best quality, not necessarily price, said Saeed Humaid Al Tayer, chairman of the board and CEO of Meydan.

The competition for its latest tender — the contract for Meydan Metropolis Business Park Phase I — was intense, Guangsha Middle East Construction’s managing director, Shili Yu, told Gulf News.

“We won’t look for another project within Dubai, the project is big enough already,” he said, adding he could not reveal the contract value other than that it was very big.

Al Tayer said he could not disclose the exact amount as it could still change and negotiations with sub-contractors and other suppliers were still ongoing.

Construction costs

Construction costs have come down since the boom, but Al Tayer recognises that the challenge is to be constantly on the lookout for fluctuating prices and make sure a profit is made, but be fair to all, contractors, developers and ultimately the buyer of property.

“We have to make Dubai competitive again. Most of our around 70 partners have paid and got their land parcels but we sit down with them and future investors to understand their needs. The days of simply pricing something high are over. We want a healthy state of affairs,” Al Tayer said.

He said Dubai had time to reflect and couldn’t ignore what was happening around the world. The focus is keeping Meydan’s attractiveness as low density, environmentally friendly development and be ready for investors as they come along.

“We can’t just sit here and wait for the grass to grow, because there is a global downturn. But the challenge is to change the people’s mindsets to adapt to certain scenarios. The cost escalated in the past but people still embarked on projects. Now the cost has come down, but there is a bit of reluctance globally to finance,” he told Gulf News.

At Meydan City itself, the shooting range, facilities for dressage, show jumping, the I-max cinema are readying and the museum would open before the next World Cup. The other Meydan City components, Horizon and Godolphin Park have not been forgotten.

Priority

“I have to assess the components and partners to get the right genuine ones before launching anything and that takes a little bit of time. But Godolphin River Park’s signature mall is the next thing on our high priority list, we’ll be working at a rapid pace here,” he revealed.

Al Tayer also told Gulf News that work with the RTA is ongoing to complete two more interchanges and make the canal navigable within 24 months.

The developer’s joint venture in China, the Meydan Phoenix Horse City in Tianjin, is going ahead as planned. Meydan brings its equine expertise on board, including breeding, in particular and may get involved in more projects in the country.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel we’re taking what we have learnt here to China, incorporating local, but also a similar design there for the tracks, for example jockeys gave us a good feedback. China has the appetite to have more than just one racecourse there may be other cities we’re interested in,” Al Tayer said.

Guangsha has not signed anything yet, but Shili told Gulf News it would certainly be interested in tendering for Meydan projects in its home country.