Challenges ahead for RAK

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DIFFERENTIATION: Ras Al Khaimah may benefit from Dubai’s expansion, but the emirate is also taking steps to exploit its own natural assets.

Angela Giuffrida takes a look at the challenges faced by Ras Al Khaimah, as the emirate tries to compete with Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but in its own inimitable style.

With a similar style of real estate development either under way or planned in Ras Al Khaimah, it would be easy to suggest the northernmost emirate is hoping to flourish on the Dubai model.

A reclaimed island development - Rakeen's US $1.8 billion (AED6.6 billion) Al Marjan Island - is already under construction, while the developer is set to launch The Gateway, a ‘city within a city' which, in its first phase alone, will cost $1.1 billion.

The emirate has experienced a significant amount of inward investment over the last five years, leading to growth rates of around 18% a year and to it being described in an Oxford Business Group report as the ‘strongest' of the emerging northern emirates.

When it comes to real estate, Ras Al Khaimah has 31 projects under way or in the planning stage.

Among them is the $2.7 billion Mina Al Arab - a shoreline and reclaimed island project that is being developed by the government-backed RAK Properties.

Others include Saraya Islands, Mangroves Island and Ras Al Khaimah Financial City.

The emirate has also been shrewd enough to spread its investments across various industry sectors.

One area is the development of its manufacturing sector, which has seen the likes of RAK Ceramics grow internationally.

A $1.5 billion plan by RAK Investment Authority to attract investment in manufacturing has also led to around 1,000 investors now playing a role in areas such as glass and tableware, float glass sheet, cement and vehicle assembly.

RAK Investment Authority has also set up RAK Offshore, an offshore regulatory facility that has so far attracted 250 companies.

The emirate is also expanding its port and airport facilities to accommodate trade and an anticipated surge in tourism figures to 2.5 million by 2012.

But while Ras Al Khaimah might benefit from Dubai and Abu Dhabi's expansion in terms of putting it on the map, the emirate is taking steps to exploit its own natural assets to differentiate itself.

Key to its success are its natural advantages; its unspoilt coastline and mountains.

"Ras Al Khaimah has already attracted global and local investment within a short amount of time," Blair Hagkull, Middle East managing director for global property services specialist Jones Lang LaSalle told a recent MEED conference.

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