A Dubai real estate firm said on Thursday it was looking to offload a $800 million project it had launched in Ras Al-Khaimah due to lack of financing.

Khoie Properties' chief financial officer said a market slump made his firm unable to pay for part of the land for the La Hoya project, a waterfront residential and leisure project on the man-made Al Marjan Island off the coast of the emirate.

'We had some land we had paid for but we had additional lands we could not pay for because of market conditions. Project financing that was due is no longer available,' Ahmad Al-Jazayeri told Reuters, without giving financial details.

The Ras al-Khaimah Investment Authority (Rakia) was negotiating to acquire the project in its entirety, he said, but Rakia's chief executive Khater Massaad said the firm had offered the project and denied any interest by Rakia.

'We don't want to acquire the project. Khoie Properties have offered us the project,' Massaad said.

'At the moment they (Khoie Properties) have not spent all the money on the project and therefore our concern is to make sure no investors will lose money in Ras Al-Khaimah.'

Billions of dollars worth of projects in the United Arab Emirates have been delayed or cancelled, with Dubai particularly hard hit, as a result of the global financial crisis.

Rakia was set up as part of plans by the government of Ras Al-Khaimah in 2005 to help diversify the most northern emirate's economy.

The investment arm said earlier this week it planned to invest in Georgia over the next five years. It bought Poti Black Sea port and 300 hectares of land last year to develop a free industrial zone there.



Source: Trade Arabia News