Emirati Arada launches a $7 billion joint project with the Syrian sovereign fund to build “New Damascus”
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The Emirati real-estate developer Arada entered the Syrian market by establishing an investment partnership with the state-owned Syrian sovereign fund to develop a mixed-use urban project in the “New Damascus” area, with a total development value reaching $7 billion (about AED 25.7 billion). The project will cover an area of four million square metres west of the capital, near the Al-Mazza district, and will be the first partnership project between the two parties within national development and reconstruction plans.
The agreement was signed at the Syrian sovereign fund’s headquarters in Damascus between Ahmed Al-Khashibi, chief executive officer of the Arada Group, and Muhammad Al-Khayyat, board member and chief executive of the real-estate development division of the Syrian sovereign fund. President Ahmed Al-Shar‘ also received the group’s chief executive at the People’s Palace, where the two sides will cooperate with Syrian government authorities to develop the project’s master plan and explore additional real-estate development sites within the country.The agreement represents one of the most prominent foreign real-estate investment initiatives in Syria and marks the entry of major Gulf property developers into integrated urban-infrastructure projects.
The site is located on a plateau about ten minutes from central Damascus and 25 minutes from Damascus International Airport. The plan aims to create a fully integrated community comprising 11 000 residential units ranging from apartments, villas and townhouses to branded residences, together with 500 hotel rooms and 1 000 serviced apartments. The development also includes a dedicated public park covering 700 000 square metres, educational facilities for five thousand students, a 300-bed hospital, office and retail spaces, government service buildings and leisure areas, drawing on the development model the company applied in the Al-Jada and Masar communities in the United Arab Emirates.
The project lifts Arada’s total portfolio to $42 billion, encompassing more than 66 000 residential units across four markets, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Australia and Syria. Prince Khalid bin Al-Waleed bin Talal, deputy chief executive of Arada, explained that the firm is leveraging its two-decade experience in delivering large-scale urban communities to support the creation of local jobs, skills and Syrian companies, while Muhammad Al-Khayyat said the partnership practically embodies the sovereign fund’s role in attracting global investment that generates sustainable value.
The alliance outlines a new phase for capital flows and institutional development frameworks between Gulf and Levant markets.Regionally, the adoption of the master-developer and integrated-community model in Damascus opens broad opportunities for engineering consultancy firms, construction companies and supply chains to align their standards with the requirements of large-scale projects. For investors and executive talent in the region, the entry of sovereign-capital partnerships into reconstruction projects increases demand for asset-management and master-plan expertise, and offers a new investment model for regional portfolios seeking long-term urban-expansion opportunities.