Emaar hints at skyscraper taller than Burj Khalifa

Emaar hints at skyscraper taller than Burj Khalifa Muzaffar Rizvi / 2 May 2013 Chairman of Emaar Properties Mohamed Alabbar hinted at building another skyscraper taller than Burj Khalifa and said his company will continue to launch new projects on a regular basis. Alabbar made these comments during a plenary session titled ‘Breaking Barriers and Connecting Business’ at the Africa Global Business Forum on Wednesday. “We may try to build something a little taller,” he said while referring to 828-metre Burj Khalifa built by Emaar Properties in 2010. “The emirate needs another tall building. Dubai is only about 30-year old, so we have a lot of time and lot of investment left,” Alabbar told journalists at a conference. He ruled out another bubble in real estate market and said there is very strong demand for properties in the emirate. However, he cautioned that the practice of buying speculatively for quick resale should be controlled to ensure stability in the market. He said banks and finance companies have resumed mortgage lending once again, but this time they are ‘very cautious’. “The government and authorities concerned have been undertaking concrete steps to control ‘flipping’ in real estate market,” he said. Expressing confidence in emirate’s real estate sector, he said: “We will continue to launch new projects every week.” muzaffarrizvi@khalejtimes.com Taylor Scott International