Saraya began selling off-plans residential homes for its Al Marsa Island off the coast of Ras Al Khaimah today. It is selling in two areas, the Marina (left) and the Boulevard village, which is the mainland trunk leading to the natural island.

The company is working with environmental groups, keen to ensure that an area already considered to have natural beauty continues to do so after development. Mahdhar Al-Tamimi, Saraya’s general manager, said: ‘Marine life and how it is affected was important. We wanted to preserve the natural set up and enhance it so it was imperative we got involved with them.’

Al Marsa Island is 2.5km long (right), separated from the mainland by a lagoon. It has three other islands on either side of it, creating a total stretch of land of 5.5km. One of the interesting aspects of the design was the building approach. Al-Tamimi was keen to push the fact that although a phased project, once people move into the central area, building work will be pushed outwards to minimise disruption.

The mainland village will have up to 700 units housing 1,500 people. The Marina will have around 300 units. Most of the project is low level buildings, with two 35 storey towers in the village (left).

Sometimes the scale models on display at Cityscape don’t always give you the full picture of a project.

For example, the Marina Arcade project pictured here shows a tower and attached mall with plenty of space to breathe alongside untouched real estate.

However, what you find out when you ask more about the development is that the empty plots next to the project will soon be high rise towers that will completely surround the development.

Interestingly, the developer, Mada’in, says the Marina Arcade project will ‘benefit’ from the ‘dramatic views’ that will be offered by the adjacent towers. Clearly, this project is right at home in Dubai’s Marina community, which is chock-o-block full of towers on what was once a pristine shoreline.

But to its credit, Mada’in doesn’t hide the fact that its development will eventually be dwarfed on nearly all sides. Its belief is that there are plenty of city lovers who will be captivated by the urban ‘view.’ Judging by the success of the nearby Jumeirah Beach Residence towers, there are plenty of buyers who are happy to live in an area with a skyline that is denser than New York’s.

One of the more interesting claims made by a developer at Cityscape comes from R Holding, which says that its Emirates City project in Ajman will be the ‘world’s largest single-phased development.’

We asked Ahmad Awwad, the firm’s head of corporate communications, if any other developer in the region had ever delivered a large-scale project in a single phase. He said he knew of only one other developer (he didn’t mention its name) who made the claim, but he said the development was actually delivered in two phases.

Awwad gave no specific reason why the firm was trying to develop the Emirates City project in one phase, other than the fact that it helps to raise awareness about the development.

The project, which features 92 towers, along with hotels and shopping malls, is set to be delivered in 2010, which makes the claim even more ambitious. Awwad says the development, which is located on Emirates road near Dubai, is the closest freehold project to the emirate.

He said the project is ‘on track’ so far, and the plan is still for all of it to be delivered in one phase. He joked that if for some reason the project is not delivered in one phase, they will no longer use the slogan.

Anyone driving down Emirates Road in Dubai can’t fail to have noticed big T Rex dinosaur posters roaring out at you. That is City of Arabia, one of the many new developments in the area.

It boasts what will be a huge mall – and you could question whether Dubai needs a shopping mall so big that it will take an estimated 20 hours to walk and have 6,000 stores to tempt you from your cash.

The Dhs2bn project will have 8,000 abodes for 150,000 residents, and for those with money to burn – but not quite in the super rich league – that includes just 14 townhouses costing between Dhs8m and Dhs10m each. There will also be 32 towers.

Attached to the mall is an animatronics dinosaur theme park where visitors really can walk with dinosaurs. A monorail with 15 stops will shuttle people around the city, which is scheduled for phased completion between 2009 and 2011.

Tall towers are all the rage in the Middle East, and this is Qatar’s. It will be – unless superseded between now and completion – the second tallest in the region.

It should be ready by 2011, have 110 storeys and be 550m in height. It will be a mix of offices, residential apartments – including exclusive penthouses – and a hotel. Apartments go on sale from the second half of next year.

At the moment the foundations are being laid, so building proper hasn’t started. Our doubts about the finish date were gently dismissed; building the tower will be quick we were told.

The public observation deck will be on the 92^nd floor, which will also house a restaurant and an exclusive cigar club. A common problem with tall towers in this region is they don’t have enough elevators, but Qatari Diar, the developer, said this will have 32, some for the exclusive use of penthouse owners.

The convention centre next to the tower is also being redeveloped, and a monorail built to help with transportation.

How much, AME Info wanted to know? ‘A lot,’ said Farid Ben Dris, its chief development officer.

Viewing a scale model of the Falcon City of Wonders development, one can only marvel at the sheer novelty of the project. The $1.5bn development will feature ancient and modern architectural wonders such as the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Seeing the model first hand is sort of like playing a game of ‘spot the seven wonders of the world.’ For sure, the development will be distinctive and iconic, but whether the individual parts come together cohesively as a whole remains to be seen. We chatted briefly with the CEO of the project, Salem al Moosa, about the status of the development.

He said the project is being developed in phases, with several stages within each phase. Phase one is residential, and the first stage of phase one is complete. All 366 villas have been sold as part of stage one. Construction of these villas is expected to be completed by May 2008.

He said the development has now moved into stage two of phase one, with sales now beginning for 200 villas and townhouses.

Anyone looking for relief in the ever increasing price of property in Dubai is going to be disappointed by predictions from the Dubai Land Department that the boom has some way to go yet.

A study released by FutureBrand’s today, looking at the Gulf Real Estate sector, found that land prices in Dubai have risen 64 per cent over the past year. We asked the Land Department is this was set to continue. It felt the prices would continue to go up, because more people are still coming to the emirate.

The population, said spokesman Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Hathboor, is now 4.2 million, and ‘everyday more people come’. With such spiralling costs, the fear is that companies will stop relocating to Dubai, choosing instead cheaper places where staff can afford to live. But Al Hathboor did not believe this was a bubble due to pop. ‘We’re not worried about the rapid rise of prices. They talked before about a bubble.’

And is Dubai big enough to cope with this rapid population splurge? ‘Already we are building in the sea,’ he joked.

With Cityscape now less than 24 hours away, all of the region’s major (and minor) real estate movers and shakers are frantically clamouring for attention as they unveil new developments and future strategies.

But it is Limitless, the real estate development arm of local powerhouse Dubai World, which has surely risen above all other rivals with a string of mega developments in the space of just a few weeks.

The firm set the ball rolling at the start of the month with the announcement of a tie-up with India’s DLF which will lead to the construction of a $12bn township in Bangalore, which will be able to accommodate 750,000 people.

Even by the ferociously ambitious standards of the Gulf’s real estate industry, that deal alone would be an appropriate attention grabber in the lead-up to the region’s biggest property show.

But Limitless had barely even warmed up. Less than a week ago, it unveiled the $11bn 75 kilometre long Arabian Canal which will flow inland from Nakheel’s Dubai Waterfront project. The canal will itself provide frontage to a whopping $50bn development which has yet to be designed.

Scarcely pausing for breath, Limitless has also revealed Al Wasl - a $12.1bn ‘urban community’ north of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The development, which will house 200,000 people in 60,000 residential units when it is finished, merely marks the first of several ventures in the kingdom by Limitless.

For good measure, the firm has also just launched two major plazas at its ongoing Downtown Jebel Ali project along Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road.

It is a pretty safe bet that, with both the Arabian Canal and Al Wasl on show at Cityscape, Limitless can expect to have the event’s most popular stand.

One of the challenges that exhibitors will face at Cityscape is standing out from the crowd amidst the sea of shiny, glittering projects that will be on display. Tanmiyat Group has taken this challenge head on and has devised a truly innovative, if slightly offbeat, way to showcase their new Ajman Marina development. 

The firm has hired Australian ‘Sandcastle Girl,’ Jenney Rossen, to use her artistic talents to carve sand sculptures of the marina development during the Cityscape event. The carvings will include a variety of home and lifestyle scenes, with a sea background, as if one is living, working and shopping on the beach.

We think the idea makes perfect sense. What better way to showcase a development in the Middle East than to have it be made out of sand? Visitors will be able to catch Jenny in action from the 16^th to the 18^th at the Tanmiyat exhibit.

Emaar is the most dominant real estate developer in the region in terms of familiarity and reliability, according to FutureBrand’s 2007 Gulf Real Estate Study obtained by AME Info. The report, which surveyed 300 home buyers and development professionals in

Emaar also came out on top in terms of developer reliability, with 25% of respondents viewing the developer as reliable. However, the relatively low percentage suggests that most respondents do not feel that developers are reliable in their offerings. Nonetheless, Emaar’s percentage was significantly higher than its rivals Nakheel (8%), Aldar (6%), and YK Almoayyed (6%).  AMEinfo will be producing an in-depth look at the study next week as part of its report from Cityscape.