Emaar Boss Bullish on Pakistan

Talking with CNBC today, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Dubai-based Emaar Properties, said he believes Pakistan represents a great investment opportunity for his company as it goes global. In fact, he repeated it twice to convince Erin Burnett, the CNBC anchor, who appeared surprised. He further said Emaar sold a major project yesterday within hours of launch in Pakistan.

A massive real estate project valued at $43b by Emaar is underway in Pakistan to develop two island resorts near Karachi. This is Emaar's single largest project and supersedes the $26.7 billion King Abdullah Economic City project in Saudi Arabia announced in 2006. This project will include office buildings, hotels, apartments, shopping malls, restaurants, golf courses, and beaches. The two islands will be self-contained cities spread over 30,000 acres of land.

Emaar has already energized the Pakistani economy with development projects worth $2.4 billion. Emaar has unveiled its first master planned community in the country — Canyon Views in Islamabad. The company has also announced the highlands project in Islamabad and Crescent Bay in Karachi. It has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Port Qasim Authority for a mixed-use land development comprising residential, retail, commercial and hospitality components.

Another Dubai-based company, Abraaj Capital, has acquired land in Karachi's financial district to build Karachi Financial Towers (twin-towers) to cater to the booming banking sector in Pakistan.

Apart from creating new job opportunities for Pakistanis, these projects will support ancillary industries and strengthen foreign investment inflow into the country.

Arif Masud Naqvi Vice-Chairman of Dubai based Abraaj Capital said that Pakistan is a country of enormous business potential, and investors are comfortable and see opportunity rather than risk.