Qatari Diar to build $350m West Bank township

29 May 2008

Doha - Qatari Diar, Qatar Investment Authority's real estate arm, is all set to build Palestine's first planned community between Ramallah and Nablus on the West Bank for $350m.

Called Rawabi, or hills in Arabic, the upcoming town will consist of 5,000 affordable houses and will ultimately be home to over 40,000 people.

The site for the new community is situated nine kilometres north of Ramallah, an area currently under the control of the Palestinian Authority (Mahmoud Abbas Terrorists Organization).

The project will be developed and managed by Bayti, which is owned by Qatari Diar and Massar International, a holding company headquartered in Ramallah with real-estate development as its core business activity.

Qatari Diar has provided additional capital and, together with Massar International, will develop and construct the town.

Qatari Diar CEO Ghanim bin Saad Al Saad told a news conference yesterday the firms were committed to the advancement of the Palestinian economy and the welfare of the Palestinian people.

"Building Rawabi will create thousands of job opportunities as well as the chance for ordinary Palestinians to own their own home," he said.

Al Saad said the project had evoked a good response from both Qatari and Palestinian business communities and he was confident of its success.

He said it was encouraging that some 2,200 ownership applications have already been registered for the housing units, which underscores the great interest attached to the project.

Qatari Diar is also keen to carry out other projects in Palestine, in the industrial, health and education fields.

Qatari Diar’s Palestinian project: An artist’s impression of Palestine's first planned community between Ramallah and Nablus on the West Bank.

The construction phase of the Rawabi project will span five years and is expected to create some 10,000 jobs, according to Massar International Chairman Bashar Masri.

"Our primary goal in this project is to create job opportunities and develop the Palestinian economy," he said Masri.

He said the Rawabi project has moved from the drawing board to the implementation phase and the organizational structure will start to take shape by June.

The $350m project cost will cover the core of the town, but a master plan for a much larger area is being worked out which will ultimately bring the total investment in Rawabi within four to five years to over $1bn.

He said the financing would be sourced from average entrepreneurs. "We will open the doors for others to get involved, including small entrepreneurs, medium sized companies. Most Palestinian companies are relatively small and medium size. We will give them an opportunity through our master plan to get in and open up their businesses."

The current estimated housing shortfall in the West bank is greater than 200,000 units, a figure which increases roughly 10 percent every year. Masri said the absence of large-scale housing projects in the West Bank together with high prices for housing and limited land available for housing have created an acute housing shortage.

Within Ramallah, the demand for new homes is skyrocketing and along with it, rental rates and land prices.

The town of Rawabi is designed to attract Palestinians seeking affordable housing in a well-zoned, accessible environment.

When the town is fully built, it will feature more than 5,000 apartment and town home units housing up to 25,000 residents.

Additional residential and commercial units slated for subsequent construction phases will ultimately serve a town with a population of 40,000.