ERBIL, IRAQ // As Nawzad Khoshnaw, a military adviser to the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), sat in the living room of his new home earlier this week, the sprinklers in the neighbourhood spurred to life and began watering the lawns. Each square of grass in front of each identical home was as bright and uniform as the next.
"This is progress," he said. "It is silent and comfortable. We have here electricity, water and safety."
The development where Mr Khoshnaw has chosen to live is called American Village and it is almost an exact replica of a subdivision - better known as a "suburb" in American parlance - in a small city like Chantilly in Virginia.
The streets in the development, located just outside the capital city of Erbil, have names like Kentucky St and Tennessee St, and even the curbs on the street are designed to meet US building codes. It is a far cry from downtown Erbil, where families pack into small apartments and go without a modern sewerage system or electricity for much of the day.
American Village is at the forefront of what can be described only as a surreal property boom in Iraq, especially the northern, semiautonomous region known as Kurdistan. In cities that have gone without basic infrastructure for decades, developers are planning, and in some cases building, projects on a scale never before seen in the country's history.
But without a strong banking system and amid widespread poverty, some believe the boom is outpacing the population's ability to buy homes. While cranes dot the horizon, many projects have stalled and sit half-finished.
"This is a country where there were no construction projects for more than 30 years," said Nabil Haddad, the director of operations in Iraq for Dar Al Handasah, a property and design consultancy. "The only things that were built were Saddam's palaces and a good road network, so he could send his army anywhere he wanted fast... Now there is a big movement to build."
Mr Haddad said that as electricity became available for a larger part of the day in Kurdistan - about eight hours on average - and the government made investments in infrastructure, companies were starting to take notice of Erbil as a possible headquarters for their countrywide operations. Kurdistan is much safer than the rest of the country because it is guarded by its own army, called the peshmerga, or "those who face death". Americans and westerners are well-liked because of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who terrorised Kurds for decades, during the Second Gulf War in 2003.
"Things are moving," Mr Haddad said.
Perhaps most dramatic in the property market is the emergence of large-scale, multi-billion-dollar projects.
Just behind American Village, in a valley that was the setting of a major battle between warring political parties in the 1990s, will be Tarin Hills, a Dh55 billion (US$15bn) project by Damac Properties, based in Dubai, that is expected to include sport facilities, parks, a commercial area and enough housing for about 50,000 people. A Damac spokesman said the project was in the design phase.
Earlier this month, Al Maabar International, a group consisting of the major Abu Dhabi property development companies, announced a $10bn project at the site of the Al Rasheed Military Compound in Baghdad. The 1,250-hectare project will have its own healthcare centres, hotels, mosques, parks, housing and offices.
"The move to develop this project complements the growing levels of support that the UAE is providing to the government of Iraq," said Yousef al Nowais, the managing director of Al Maabar. Bonyan Real Estate, another Dubai company, has also signed a memorandum of understanding for a roughly $2bn project in Suleimaniyah, according to government officials.
But even though it has managed to secure its cities, Kurdistan is coming up against the significant economic challenges of rebuilding a country that does not have a proper sewerage system, much less a mortgage market or a network of property brokers.
Hamin Dizayee, the developer of American Village and chief executive of Sigma International Construction, said he had sold only 85 of what eventually would be 400 houses in 18 months - a fairly slow absorption rate for new units.
"We expect the real estate business is going to boom," he said. "But not a lot of people have income for this. Everything is direct cash."
Prices of the houses range from $250,000 to $650,000, which means that so far the buyers are wealthy Kurds returning from abroad, oil companies, government officials and businessmen.
The Kurdistan regional government recently approved the creation of an insurance fund that would give out 30 per cent mortgages for low-income housing below $50,000. The rest of the market, for now, will have to be fuelled by people with enough disposable income to pay for an entire house in cash.
These new master developments "are for the highly paid expatriates and businessmen returning to Kurdistan", said Herish Muhamad, the chairman of the KRG's Investment Board. "Over time, I think that will change."
Eventually, as the entire country begins to stabilise, government officials in Kurdistan believe that more people will move from the dusty, hot climates of southern Iraq to the mountainous, cooler environs of the north. Dar al Handasah's master plan for Erbil estimates that it will grow from about 900,000 people to 2.5 million in the next decades. The plan proposes spreading the population out to the hills around the city and building such things as a logistics area near the airport that is modelled on the Jebel Ali free zone in Dubai.
Still, the slow-moving market has left some people concerned that construction projects are going faster than demand.
"It could be headed for a real-estate crash," said Zaab Sethna, a former adviser to Ahmed Chalabi at the Iraqi National Congress and one of the partners of a New York-based investment fund operating in Iraq called Northern Gulf Partners. "There is definitely a building boom going on. I just don't think the demand is there yet."
Mr Dizayee took a longer view, especially for the developing suburb market in the Middle East.
"If you look at what is happening in America now, building houses in Iraq doesn't look that much more risky any more," he said. "Many people want these kinds of homes."
bhope@thenational.ae
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
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Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
The years Ramadan fell in May
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Aston martin DBX specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Top speed: 291kph
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: Q2, 2020
Kill%20Bill%20Volume%201
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Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 30, December 1-2
International Vets
Christina Noble Children’s Foundation fixtures
Thursday, November 30:
10.20am, Pitch 3, v 100 World Legends Project
1.20pm, Pitch 4, v Malta Marauders
Friday, December 1:
9am, Pitch 4, v SBA Pirates
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
Mobile phone packages comparison