Tamouh hands over six Marina Square towers

Tamouh has delivered six towers in Marina Square, a 26.7-hectare development on Abu Dhabi's Reem Island, after months of delays.

Six hundred and sixty-five apartments are included in the towers handed over by the master developer to the investors who own the individual buildings, Tamouh said yesterday.

"Now we're expecting an acceleration of people moving in," said Samia Bouazza, Tamouh's director of marketing.

But the bulk of the towers are still awaiting final approval from the local permitting agencies. Several of the buildings do not yet have power turned on.

"We are working closely with several authorities to streamline the delivery process in the face of the new regulatory framework," said Joe Ong, the managing director of Tamouh.

Marina Square is the second project to open on the US$30 billion (Dh110.18bn) Reem Island. Sorouh's Sun and Sky Towers opened in the spring. The development features 13 residential towers, one commercial tower, retail space, a hotel and a marina. When it is completed, Marina Square will include more than 3,400 homes.

The first of the residential towers to be handed over was the 43-storey RAK Tower, which is owned by RAK Properties. The company started contacting owners in July to prepare for handovers. But still there are only a handful of people living in the development. Twelve of the 24 townhomes in the project are occupied.

In addition to the RAK tower, two small private buildings have been handed over, along with the commercial tower and the 40-storey Aabar Tower. Tamouh declined to name the sixth tower.

Tamouh expects about 70 more apartments to be occupied by the end of the month.

But thousands of buyers are still waiting for word when their buildings will be ready for handover. Owners were told in March that primary construction was complete.

"We had to delay the handover of the units from the originally stipulated timeline in order to receive the necessary approvals," Ms Bouazza said.

kbrass@thenational.ae