Mazaya Qatar sells Lebanese plot

Rashid Al-Naimi, chairman, Mazaya Qatar Doha - Arabstoday Doha-based developer Mazaya Qatar has sold a plot of land it owned in Lebanon, making a profit of around 85 percent after just one year, the chairman of the company told Arabian Business in an interview. “The land in Lebanon we have sold. We started to develop our design and then we got an attractive [offer] to make an 85 percent [return] on the investment in one year so we sold it,” Rashid Al-Naimi, chairman of Mazaya Qatar said in an exclusive interview in Doha. As a result, the Doha-based developer is looking to develop its operations in Lebanon and around the region. “We are driven by opportunities… We are looking to develop projects [in Lebanon]. The due diligence has started and Lebanon is one of the attractive and stable markets. We are looking at the options and opportunities and our team is evaluating them,” Al-Naimi said. In addition to Lebanon, the company’s ventures overseas have also included Dubai, which was one of the hardest hit markets when the global real estate market went into decline in 2008, with prices slumping nearly 60 percent from their peak. “Things are very promising,” Al-Naimi said of Mazaya’s options regarding its Dubai ventures. “The business development teams are evaluating the market... We have to evaluate the land. I think it will be residential or commercial but we won’t develop it in 2012.” When pushed on a date for completion, Al-Naimi says it will definitely be within the next few years. The company is also exploring opportunities in North Africa, he continues.  “We are also looking at the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) areas. We are looking at areas that have not been touched by developers where there is potential in 2013. There are shortages in some areas where we can go and develop.” Qatar and the UAE already have some dealings with the new government in Libya, but Al-Naimi said any decision will be based on potential return on investment rather than politics. “We have nothing to do with the politics. We are a private company. We move to the market based on the needs for market and, like any others, we look at the needs of the market. We will evaluate to see if it fits with our business model and requirements.”