Dubai real estate boss Damac says floods have been exaggerated

Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Damac Properties, one of the UAE’s largest private property developers, sought to downplay the severity of flooding in the country earlier this month, saying there were only “pockets problems”.

On April 16, the normally dry Gulf desert country was hit with about a year’s worth of rain in less than a day, more than any in a single storm since records began for the United Arab Emirates in 1949.

The flash floods that formed caused cars to be engulfed by water, completely submerging them in some areas, leading hundreds of drivers to abandon their vehicles on the roads to escape the rising waters. The deluge also closed schools and businesses, grounded hundreds of planes and destroyed cars, businesses and other property. This threw daily life into chaos as many residents lost electricity and running water or found themselves stuck either inside their homes, at airports, or wherever they were when the storm hit.

Damac’s Sajwani acknowledged there was chaos at the airport, but said the UAE had recovered much faster than other countries would have.

“I think the topic has been overblown, honestly,” he told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Sunday, speaking at the “Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development.” of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“All right, we’re having some damage, in one of the malls. But if the mall is 3 million square feet…and if there’s a 100 meter leak or whatever, it’s not It’s not the end of the world and it was fixed the next day.

He explained that he arrived in Dubai from London just hours after the rains stopped and visited all the major properties owned by his company.

“There were pockets of problems, I’m not saying no, but it was too exaggerated… In any country, I mean, you see flooding and things like that happening regularly in Miami and houses are being destroyed and people are being evacuated. It’s today with the environment changing all over the world you’re experiencing these kinds of storms, right, and Dubai has been hit by this, but they. handled the situation very well,” he said.

He later added that he didn’t see any lessons to be learned because it was an unusual storm. “It’s been 75 years since this hit the country,” he said.

The UAE National Center for Meteorology said eastern parts of the country recorded up to 250 millimeters of rain in less than 24 hours. In contrast, over a full year, the UAE typically receives between 5.5 and 8 inches of rainfall per year.

Due to a lack of drainage infrastructure and the country’s urban spaces being paved, much of the water had nowhere to go, exacerbating flooding in many areas.

Efforts to clean up the country continue. A multi-storey apartment building near the border between Dubai and the emirate of Sharjah cracked and toppled due to structural damage caused by the storm, and was completely evacuated as it was in danger of collapse. ‘collapse.

Some Dubai developers reportedly offered free repairs and pledged to take action after record rainfall. Damac told Al Arabiya English that it had worked around the clock with local government authorities to help residents, deploying several tankers to collect floodwaters.

A Damac official also told the outlet that its upcoming developments had not been affected by the floods. Speaking to CNBC, Sajwani said his company’s properties were largely unaffected and there were “almost no incidents” – but could not confirm whether residents would receive compensation .

“The good thing that we did a) our infrastructure was done, in my opinion, better than a few others. The other thing is that two days before the storm arrived – because the warning was there – I I got a Zoom (call) from London with our management and we agreed to put an action plan in place and we took a very good action plan, so we were ready.

“We had no impact. I mean no impact. I tell you that 98% of our units, maybe more, were intact,” he added.

—Natasha Turak of CNBC contributed to this article.