Dubai is poised to set up a new committee to regulate urban and regional planning in a bid to match construction projects to future demand, it has been announced.
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, ratified the principles of establishing a supreme committee for planning at a meeting of the Dubai Executive Council.
The meeting examined the details of the initiative, which aims to enhance the competitiveness of Dubai regionally and globally and to generate investment opportunities, state news agency WAM reported.
The plan will also “achieve sustainable development at the economic, social and environmental levels” by best using the infrastructure in Dubai.
The project will include several stages focused on projections of population growth in the emirate until 2020.
It will also focus on future needs of land uses in Dubai with “appropriate legislation” being implemented to regulate the plan.
Last month, Jones Lang Lasalle said vacancy rates in Dubai commercial property were continuing to rise, and should go past the 50 percent mark within the next year.
Oversupply in both the residential and office market in Dubai have led to huge declines in property prices and rents over the past two years. Last year, the firm warned that higher vacancy rates could lead to some office units being mothballed or demolished.
Last year, Nick MacLean, managing director of global real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis, told Arabian Business that Gulf states should introduce a UK-style planning permission system in a bid to curb oversupply and control future development.
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