Settlements of AED 185 million (USD 50.3 million) will facilitate resumption of development work.
Nakheel subsidiary, The World LLC, has announced it has settled two of the outstanding disputes with property investors in its offshore island project for AED 185 million (USD 50.3 million).
The settlements involve Sao Paulo Development Ltd, purchaser of the project's Sao Paulo Island and the unnamed buyer of Nord Island, and bring the total value of settlements agreed during the last two months to AED 807 million (USD 219.7). In May, the company announced it had agreed a settlement worth AED 622 million (USD 169.3 million) with Kleindienst Properties, the Austrian developer of a six-island luxury resort that will be called "The Heart of Europe".
Several purchasers had sought a ruling from Dubai World Tribunal last year allowing them to set aside payment obligations on the grounds that The World had failed to deliver substantial civil engineering works to the artificial islands. However, in January, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Master Developer.
Although the project has been described as the largest construction victim of the global financial crisis (completion of the three hundred islands occupying an area of 931 hectares coincided with the start of the banking crisis in the United States and Europe in 2008), Dubai's economy has recovered strongly in 2013 resulting in renewed interest in even the largest developments.
Indeed, this week a spokesperson for The World declared: "The World is back on the map. Investors are coming forward to settle their dues and we are receiving an increasing number of designs and proposals for development at this unique project."
