The past few years have vividly demonstrated the acute shortages of local resources in the construction industry, which has manifested itself by the obvious sluggishness on the supply side of the property market.
The fact that the UAE has been able to somehow cope with the monumental number of projects undertaken in the Emirates, in spite of the limited resources available, is by itself extremely commendable.
However, the limited local resources are now impacting the property development sector in a significant way, and contributing to the on-going and detrimental construction delays that are hurting a spectrum of people involved in this industry.
A wide range of entities that are somewhat connected with this industry, including property developers, expected property end-users, main construction companies and a large number of various suppliers are all tangled in a vicious cycles of delays that seem never to abate nor fade away. This phenomenon is absolutely and entirely due to the shortage and the limited number of local resources, and the absence of the influx of a considerable and substantial number of foreign companies to commence operations in the UAE.
The average delays in construction of scheduled buildings in Dubai are now approximately two years, with a large number of master plans behind their timetables substantially longer than that.
The current situation will be further aggravated by the so-called Abu Dhabi Factor, as a very sizable number of local suppliers have already shifted their resources to focus on the Abu Dhabi projects. This trend will continue to deplete more resources away from existing projects to those in Abu Dhabi, and consequently exacerbate an already alarming circumstance.
There are still numerous unfinished and/or yet-to-start projects that will require substantially more suppliers than what are actually available; while Abu Dhabi has just embarked on a massive property development drive that will demand and require a very large number of suppliers/resources to complete them.
The shift of resources , in an already pressed industry, will surely have an impact on the present and future projects and will only be resolved by the arrival of a considerable number of qualified foreign suppliers to the UAE property market. There needs to be a full-hearted marketing campaign to attract more such companies to enter this market, in order to prevent any hindrance to the economic and business progressions.
This should also be augmented by easing and/or introducing less regulations that would help the process, by which these companies can set up their operations faster and more efficiently.
- The author is Chairman of Saba Properties