Emaar Properties to develop Marina Al Qussor in Tunisia
Emirati company Emaar Properties PJSC yesterday announced its plans to develop the $1.88 billion Marina Al Qussor project on Tunisia's eastern coastline.The 442 hectare Marina development is located within the governorate of Sousse towards the southern end of the Gulf of Hammamet and will offer a mix of living options and tourist attractions with a large Marina Village at its centre.
Emaar Chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar presented the high profile project to the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali yesterday.
The various components of Marina Al Qussor range from over 4,000 residential units with villas, townhouses and apartments located on the lakeside, beach, marina and quayside; six hotels ranging from luxury boutique to four star located on the beach and marina, leisure facilities with the marina, yacht club, beach clubs, spa resort and sports club.
First of all, I think it's great to see that more companies from the UAE are investing in Tunisia. The UAE has become one of the most important business centres in the world, and building bridges between the two countries is very good for both economies.
As for the project, Tunisia relies a lot on tourism, with it attracting 6.4 million tourists in 2005 and aiming for tourism revenue of close to $2 billion in 2006.
So from that point of view, this is yet another great project for Tunisia's tourism industry, which I'm pretty sure will be very well done.
On the other hand, it's a bit of a shame to see yet another tourism project pop up in that same region. It's like tourism has eaten up all of Hammamet and Sousse, making them lose their Tunisian originality, which should be maintained as one of the main touristic attractions.
But then again, when you think of it, maybe it's better if all these projects are centered in certain areas, and not spread out all over the country, so that some places can retain their purity and originality.
Italian Firm Plans $22 Billion Tunisia Resort [09/03/07] News Bytes From Tunisia Tunisia: One Of Top 53 Places To Go In 2008 Al-Jawhara FM Hits Airwaves Jawhara FM Onlinewell, I share your thoughts Marwen..Besides, I'm not sure the "Marina" concept is a viable one. Marinas are everywhere, we've been building and duplicating them for years, but were they worth the trouble?
I think that the "problem" in Tunisian tourism are "tourists" and their profiles and consumption habits. It's not a problem of caspacity or attractivity.
I'll blog about this in more detail soon I hope
Posted by: Tarek at April 16, 2006 09:28 PMEt allez : on continue à betonner la côte (sauvage cette fois-ci) :-(((
Posted by: MoZZ at April 17, 2006 09:45 AMFor a while I thought that we'll have our own palm island or maybe an olive-tree...
Posted by: lot at April 17, 2006 01:28 PMI’ve just heard about this project and would agree with your comments MMM. I hope there’s lots of jobs for the locals throughout the different phases of the project. Do you know when the project will begin
Posted by: LME at May 24, 2006 04:38 PMSearching on the Internet I read about this big project which seems elaborate. I imagine that each one of the residents will have bought a cruiser to navigate on the coastline.
Posted by: Canal holidays at February 6, 2008 04:41 PMI WORKED FOR ALABBAR FOR 5 YEARS, and recently resigned as CEO of one of his companies.
I have visited Phoenix with him repeatedly, his private aircraft’s tail number is VP-BEN and its a global express registered in the Bahamas so that he can hide the travel bills from Emaars shareholders. Which he also ripped off, to the tune of $400M in a deal in Egypt.
He’s the most arrogant, worst chip-on-the-shoulder, leader you’ll ever meet. For all the responsibility he has, which he wrongly thinks of as power, to get a decision on anything out of him you have to call a battery of far too beautiful to be functional assistants (although I must say that some of them are super hard working) and it will probably take 6-8 months to get an answer. He the kind of guy who skips board meetings to play golf.
Selling anything to this man is like tying yourself to a snail, he can’t decisions, he’s never available, he great at talking the talk but pathetic at walking the walk. He has no respect for people, people in Dubai no longer respect him thats why he’s in places like phoenix. He actually believes what his PR agents publish about him.
About the super-bowl he has no clue what the game is about, he was invited to my house once to watch a game and he arrived early so I could tell him how it works so that when Mr.know-it-all speaks he know’s it all. A great leader listens, after listening, makes up his mind, makes one killer point, gives direction and leaves people to achieve their full potential. Not this guy, he talks doesn’t listen, his points are often fuzzy and incomprehensible, he gives directions not direction, and if it works he takes credit for it. All this guy has is money in cash, but thats not what america is all about, its about ideas, which are always more valuable than all the money in the world. The idea is the capital, the rest is just money. So what’s the big idea Mr.Alabbar? or is it just money your bring?
His son went to college in san diego, he’s obsessed with the number 8, he spends most of his lime between LA and Vegas these days. Definateley the wrong stuff, always happy to take credit for other people’s work.
I got a seven figure settlement so the name here is not real, everything else is.
Posted by: Benjamin Sable at June 9, 2008 05:11 PM