MANAMA: With over 1000 residential units, well panned retail areas and five-star hotel as part of the development’s master plan, the $750million Villamar is one of the best ongoing realty projects in Bahrain.
Majed Al Khan, Executive Board Member of Gulf Holding Company (GHC), the developer of Villamar Project in Bahrain, during an on-site briefing told the group of media that given the embedded advantages in the project it has no comparison with any other real estate project in the Kingdom.
The project has been in the spot light since the work has been restarted with full force on all development fronts and the developers are optimistic about the completion and handing over of the units to the owners in the second half of next year.
In terms of financing, Majed Al Khan who was joined by representatives of the Al Hamad Contracting and other stakeholders during the briefing, said that $200million sukuk from Al Rajhi Bank backed by $50million letter of credit of Gulf Finance House is proof of seriousness of the stakeholders including the financial institutions. Similarly, he added, we have resigned the contact with Al Hamad Contracting to whom the original contact was granted at the launch of the project.
Al Khan also assured the fullest support of the Gulf Holding Company, the developer of the project, and said as part of the project the talks with five star properties were ongoing to finalise the contact for the hotel for the project.
“The company has made significant progress since the signing of the final Sukuk restructuring agreement between GHC and ‘GFH Financial Group’, the main project sponsors, and ‘Al Rajhi Bank’, the original project financier on Dec 4, 2016. Other key consultants for the project were appointed. These included COWI for consultancy services for the construction on the integrated residential complex, Projacs International as the project management consultant and Haj Gulf as the cost management consultant.”
Al Khan also assured the target handover date for Phase 1 is still on schedule as per the original plan which is expected to take 24 months in total and will include completing entire structural works, external and internal finishes for both tower B and common areas. Phase 1 will allow GHC to hand over tower B to existing buyers and complete a major milestone in the project.”
