Thursday, 08 January 2009
updated 1 minute ago
07:29 UAE time

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Luxury hotel fitter expects to see Dubai slowdown

by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Thursday, 20 November 2008

PROJECTS TALKS: Depa says the global economic slowdown has not hit its pipeline of projects. (Getty Images)

The head of interior contractor Depa said on Thursday that its pipeline of new projects has not been hit by the global economic downturn but that it expects a “noticeable” slowdown in Dubai’s economy.

“As of today we don’t see any change in our projects,” chief executive Mohannad Sweid told a conference in Dubai.

The number of developments announced in the Gulf will fall sharply, but the number of projects that are actually completed will only decline slightly, he said.

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This is because of a discrepancy between the number of projects that are announced and the number that are actually completed.

At one point the company’s research department estimated the number of high end hotel openings in the GCC, based on announcements, to reach 280 over the next 4 years.

In reality, only four or five hotels opened every year, Sweid claimed.

“There are certain developments in Dubai that have to be done…It’s not by choice as much as by force,” he said, citing infrastructure projects such as the Dubai Metro.

“[There] will be quite a noticeable slowdown but Abu Dhabi will definitely compensate for that slowdown in the short run as well as in the long run,” he said.

The company’s reiterated its growth target of 40 percent per year over the next two years.

Dubai-based Depa specialises in the fit-out and furnishing of five-star luxury hotels, yachts and apartments.

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