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Read Hydra chief’s responses in full
by Anil Bhoyrul on Tuesday, 5 May 2009 at 06:57 UAE time.
Hydra Properties boss Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim has tackled investor concerns head on, by appearing in an exclusive live Q&A session on arabianbusiness.com.
Dr Al Fahim – who has faced mounting criticism over delays on Hydra projects – answered a range of questions during the special two hour session.
Hydra Investors 15:05 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
There are many unanswered questions. Can you provide a reply within the next few days?
dr.fahim 15:08 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I have tried to respond to as many as possible in the time limit - you will understand that I shortly have to begin this session for arabic readers. However, if your question was not answered please send it direct to me at ceo@hydraproperties.com
Ahmad M 15:02 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Who is the best football player in the world? Kaka?
dr.fahim 15:10 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Good question - I would have to say Diego Maradona. He is also a goodwill ambassador to the same organisation in the UN. I was going to tell you about a new patrnership I am planning with Maradona - but the moderator says I have to give it to him as an exclusive first!!
Thank you all for your time, I will now begin the arabic session.
rob 14:57 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
where are you going on holiday this year?
dr.fahim 15:04 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
After reading all these questions I don’t think I will be having a holiday this year…but if I get time, rome and venice with family, and later Washington or New York with my friends
Hydra Investors 14:50 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Dr. Fahim, do you understand that the Hydra Investors Group does not seek conflict? We simply seek resolution and a middle ground. We believe that is in the interests of all parties. We get security and assurances and Hydra stops the discontent and payment reluctance.
Would you be prepared to discuss our issues with you and your board directly via a small representation?
dr.fahim 15:06 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I understand your concerns and that is why I have said earlier that we will meet - I will meet a group you as the CEO of Hydra, and see how we can move forward. Without our customers we would have no business. I know that. And I also know the market has changed - but you must also appreciate we are running a business.
I hope we can find some middle ground and look forward to meeting with you.
Hydra Investors 14:45 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Can we ask again, why not simply put a hold on payments while progress at Hydra Village is advanced. Can Dr. Fahim not see what a huge confidence boost this would give? Currently many are funding Hydra’s delays. Is that fair?
dr.fahim 14:50 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
The payment schedule is related to the progress of the development. We have a new payment plan which is 2.5% per month and it is stretched out to the last date of delivery - and keeping the last 20% due until handover. I think that is reasonable but again I am willing to discuss specific cases. I cannot put a blanket hold on all payments. We are a business so we have committments to keep ourselves in order to maintain construction.
William Jonas 14:44 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
What do you want to achieve in life?
dr.fahim 14:53 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
What I consider success and achievement is not about business in any way. What motivates me most is to be able to be able to live with the orphans who I am going to build a home for in the UAE. I have been working with orphans in Kenya. When you work with such people who are so much less fortunate than you it gives you a totally different outlook on life and what is important and what is not. Money is a way to be able to do the things that really matter and are really important - money itself is not important.
dale kavanagh 14:39 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Can you please tell me why questions that were posted on the 7th are still waiting for moderation while questions that were posted on the 11th have been moderated. This appears to be another publicity stunt for Dr Fahim that is supported by Arabian business.
dr.fahim 14:41 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Ive no idea I am going through literally hundreds of questions as they appear on my PC
Craig Willers 14:24 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Who would be your top three signings choices for Manchester City this summer?
dr.fahim 14:43 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
My job was to do the deal for Man City I am not involved with the club - however I think they already have many great players. More than Arsenal..!
Ahmad M 14:16 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Do you still have your $1m Lamborghini Versace? Or are you considering downgrading amid the downturn?
dr.fahim 14:24 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Unfortunately I do. Do you want to buy it??
rob 14:01 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
what are you doing to improve your customer service, dedicated relationship managers? follow up, updates, returning calls or -emails are poor from your side.
dr.fahim 14:47 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Firstly in response to a question from Tim Baker I will contact you directly after this - why dont you email me and we can arrange a time to meet in my office to solve the problem. I do not think publicising it would help either of us.
As to this question. over the past few months we have increased our customer service size by 300% and on 15 July we will launch a state of the art call centre. We are doing all this to bring more focus on what we call the “voice of customer.” I know we have had problems here before and I have already apologised for those.
Jad Maalouf 13:16 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
When is Hydra Executives Parts 2?
dr.fahim 14:06 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
We have finalised 70% of the shooting and I hope it will be January 2010 - and I can assure you it is far more entertaining that US v UK. I mean, these guys really go for each other in a big way!
Gitex Giant 12:26 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Who was the last person to really impress you?
dr.fahim 14:05 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Ive been lucky to meet many impressive people. Right now I would choose Richard Best who won the Hydra Executives. Very, very impressive guy!
imtiaz karbani 10:33 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Dr Al Fahim - I had been informed yesterday that our units in Hydra village have almost a 21% price increase. The details of this has not been provided, however would you not think it would be fair that the investor had some say in this decision ?
dr.fahim 14:04 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
First of all, thank you to everyone for joining in this session. I will try and get through as many questions on a range of topics as possible.
So let’s begin with Hydra Village, which I know has brought a lot of questions.
1/ Price Rises. The master plan has been changed to the benefit of the end users and investors. When we launched it was a city with 8000 homes. After revising our master plan in line with the Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Plan, we have reduced the density to 2600 homes and created more greenery and more community areas. Therefore, some of the units have risen in size and some reduced. We increased the unit prices where the size increased, based on the original purchase price. I should add that where sizes have gone down, we have reduced the price by the same equation.
2. I will answer more Hydra Village questions later but regarding the second point, it is clear that the communication has not been adequate. These projects were launched during the boom. We have hired a dedicated team to deal with these issues - but let me take this opportunity to personally apologise to all Hydra investors who have had poor customer service. I can assure you that from now onwards, this will be a thing of the past. I am also today giving you my personal email which is ceo@hydraproperties.com on which you are welcome to personally contact me if you are experiencing problems with the service.
Mark S 10:33 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
When do you think the market will recover?
dr.fahim 14:08 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
With the wisdom of the UAE government, I think the worst is over. We are playing catch up but I don’t really see any upturn until first quarter of 2010. But I also really dont see us reaching the good levels we experienced before until at least 2011.
Ahmad M 10:19 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Of the many celebrities you have met, who did you like the most?
dr.fahim 14:26 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
From the men, Antonio Banderas - a real gent. From the women……erm…his wife Melanie!
Ahmad M 10:19 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Do you think you have made many mistakes in the past 3 years?
dr.fahim 14:27 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I have made lots of mistakes. Like any human being, I am far from perfect. I have always tried to learn from my mistakes, but I know I will still make more. All I can do is try my best and try to learn when things go wrong.
Hydra Investors 09:29 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Is the Hydra CEO afraid of facing his customers directly?
dr.fahim 14:11 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I am here in the Arabian Business offices as they have invited me to use this as a forum to talk to investors. But no, I am not afraid of meeting investors directly. I have always had an open door policy and still do. I have already given out my personal email a few minutes ago and welcome people to contact me so we can meet in my offices in Abu Dhabi to discuss issues they have. It is wrong to suggest I have been avoiding people - I was actually on our stand througout the 4 days of Cityscape in Abu Dhabi talking to our investors. Again, I urge you to contact me on ceo@hydraproperties.com if you wish to meet.
Hydra Investors 09:26 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Why does Dr. Fahim not speak directly towards the group of over 300 investors in his Hydra Village project and answer questions posed?
dr.fahim 14:14 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I have answered this already. I do not mind even meeting all my 10,000 investors together if we can find a football stadium - but I suggest my office is more practical. I would suggest groups of 5 at a time.
Hydra Investors 02:18 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Does Dr. Fahim understand that his customers are mostly dissatisfied and angry at the company’s poor performance.
dr.fahim 14:15 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Yes I do understand that and that is why I am here today answering your questions. As I have said i will personally meet each one of you. As for the questions as to why I have chosen this forum today, I was invited by the magazine to do so.
Hydra Investors 02:16 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
How does Dr. Fahim think he can convince skeptical investors to sign contracts or continue to pay for homes that might never be built and who would lose everything if the company went under?
dr.fahim 14:16 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
We have made arrangements for our investors to be able to visit our construction sites and see first hand what is going on. You can do so today by contacting our customer services department. Let me personally assure investors that Hydra Village will be completed fully by the fourth quarter of 2011.
Hydra Investors 01:34 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
The investors group has calculated that over 1,000 Hydra Village clients are not up to date with their payments, and are reluctant to bring their payments up to
date pending resolution of disputed contract clauses?
dr.fahim 14:22 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I don’t know where your figures come from but they are wrong. As the CEO, I can tell you that my finance department is showing regular payments and new contracts being signed regularly. In fact, I checked the payment status just before I came online and it was not something to worry me. I have also signed some new contracts today.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of rumour and unfounded speculation. I hope that today will be the end of that.
Hydra Investors 01:32 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Can Hydra give a positive commitment to a completion date?
dr.fahim 14:20 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Every project has a completion date. Hydra Village is Q4 2011. Some of our projects in Reem Island are due Q42011 and Q2012. It depends on the project but yes there are firm completion dates available. Again, if you contact me with the speciific project I will get back
Hydra Investors 01:31 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Why is payment not linked to progress? Is it fair to demand over 50% of payment with development less than 2% completed. Currently there are less than 50 incomplete structures on a 2500 unit development.
dr.fahim 14:29 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Every developer has its own payment schedules. These were ours and they have always been very transparent. If you wish to change your payment plan to suit the construction progress I am open to discuss that - again, it is probably better I answer individual cases on the email I sent or meet face to face.
Hydra Investors 01:26 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Why are the owners not being allowed to visit the site to inspect progress?
dr.fahim 14:31 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
This is not the case. Visits are allowed but they have to be organised as there are health and safety issues. You can contact our office to register for a site visit and we will take you there personally. We have never stopped people from going - this is just rumours that were not true.
John 00:59 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Mr. Khalil (Commercial Director, Hydra) claimed that there is a fair balance of the rights of Hydra and the investors in the new SPA/Contract.
(a) Investors are being charged AED 100 for the first 15 days and AED 500 a day thereafter as late payment fee (an annual charge of AED 176,000). Where as your company has already delayed Hydra Village project by more than a year and there is a provision in the new SPA that will allow Hydra to delay it by another six months without any compensation for the investors. For delays beyond that the compensation for investors will be a paltry AED 1,000 per month (AED 12,000 per year).
Do you seriously consider this a fair balance of the rights of Hydra & investors?
(b) The penalties on investors for cancelling the agreement are severe. They not only lose their entire investment (in most cases) but can also be held liable for exorbitant additional charges.
The penalties on Hydra on the other hand are almost nil if they are unable to fulfil their part of the agreement.
Do you seriously consider this a fair balance of the rights of Hydra & investors?
dr.fahim 14:35 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Firstly the rules and clauses were there from the time the investment was made. Obviously that was during the boom. Now I am fully aware that the market has changed, but the penalties listed above are far less severe than the original reservations that were signed by our customers. If anything this version is more favourable to you.
But I also know that customer is king and we are trying to resolve issues. If there are specific cases where you cannot meet the payment because of the penalties or other reasons, I can tell you we will examine every case on an individual basis. I will give you today the personal email of our commercial director ahmed.khalil@hydraproperties.com If you write to him - and please copy me on the email - we will try and see what we can do. The door is not closed from our side -
Anil Bhoyrul 14:07 on May 10, 2009 Permalink |
Can you tell us more about the UN work you are doing?
dr.fahim 14:40 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Ah. thanks Mr. Moderator ..a nice break for a few minutes from property..we’ll come back property soon.
I have recently been promoted to Ambassador at Large for IIMSAM - Intergovernmental Institutioin for the Use of Micro-Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition - and as a permanent observer to the UN economic and social council.
Basically this is the UN trying to make a world free of hunger and malnutrition. It may sound ambitious but I don’t see why it cannot be done. In fact, the more I have been involved with this in the past few months, the more convinced I am we can make progress
Mohammad Ansari 19:11 on May 6, 2009 Permalink |
what are your views on the recent freehold six month visa law which came into effect?is it good business wise?
dr.fahim 14:58 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
Good question. We have already started to witness a dramatic improvement in consumer confidence and appetite to invest in the UAE real estate market. We at Hydra have witnessed a substantial rise in consumer confidence.
peyman mohd. 14:42 on May 6, 2009 Permalink |
Is it true that your past generations was from Iran, a smal own in south of Iran?
dr.fahim 14:55 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
I am from the UAE and if you need to know more about my family, read the book called “From rags to riches” by Mohammed Al Fahim.
22 years in Dubai 13:48 on May 6, 2009 Permalink |
When will I receive official contract for Hydra Village property that I purchased in 2007! and when will it be completed and hand over?
dr.fahim 14:56 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
The contracts are ready i am signing them on a daily basis. Please call our office to check and arrange collection.
I will take 5 more questions before I switch to the arabic website.
rob 13:29 on May 6, 2009 Permalink |
1. What is the planned completion date of Hydra 55?
dr.fahim 14:59 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
This will be ready in Q4 2011
dr.fahim 15:03 on May 11, 2009 Permalink |
She is a goodwill ambassador for the same UN organisation as me - and so is her son Uncle Sayed Obama. We met for the first time in Kenya where many of us were opening the new Maradona camp in Kenya.