Ibrahim Jassim Al Othman, United Development Company (UDC) President, CEO and Member of the Board, has said that the reason behind high price in The Pearl-Qatar is due to the high cost of construction and services being provided there.
“The Pearl-Qatar is a special place located on the sea and constructing buildings here differs from constructions on other areas in terms of cost. The Pearl-Qatar offers all services including hotels, restaurants and shops. The prices suit to a certain class of buyers/tenants therefore everyone cannot buy an apartment in it,” Al Othman added. “There is also a Government Services Center, in addition to a fire station, and we are currently working to build a clinic as well,” Al Othman said in a recent interview with Qatar TV.
With regard to ongoing projects, he said that the volume of under construction projects implemented by the UDC at The Pearl-Qatar is estimated at QR2.5bn, and delivery of these projects will begin at the end of this year or by the start of first or second quarter of 2022.
Al Othman stressed that there is more focus on Qatari real estate developers, indicating that there are foreign developers, but now majority are Qataris, adding that the financial results of the company are good despite the COVID-19 pandemic related situation and declines in the real estate since 2015.
Responding to another question on future plans of expansions and development in The Pearl-Qatar, he said that its development has almost reached the end. “Now we aspire to develop other areas after the success of this experience.”
“We have the United School International, which can register 2,500 students. The work on the school is still under way. Also we are building a mosque that will be a landmark in The Pearl-Qatar,” he said.
Regarding the company’s handling of coronavirus pandemic and outbreak’s impact on tenants etc, he said that during coronavirus pandemic, the UDC’s tenants were exempted from rent for a period of three months.
“Enough time was given to real estate developers to implement precautionary measures such as Ehteraz app for workers and other such measures as these companies (developers/contractors) employ a large number of workers where some companies have around 1000 workers on each site. Therefore the safety measures for residents, visitors and workers are a priority for the year.”
