Tala Tower to be ready in Jan 2011

Abu Dhabi-based Tamouh Investments expects to complete Tala Tower in Marina Square on Reem Island by January-end 2011, if everything goes well, a senior company executive told Emirates 24/7.

The completion date of the 49-storey tower has been changed periodically after a fire erupted in the tower in October 2009 as investors claimed they haven’t been receiving any communiqué on the final handover date. Tala Tower, which was launched in November 2006, was scheduled for completion in December 2009.

Samia Bouazza, Marketing Director of Tamouh, said: “No one wanted that fire to happen and we were all equally saddened and affected by the delay in completion that it caused. Ever since the incident, we are working closely with the contractor and the related authorities (especially civil defense) to ensure that any possible impacts of the fire are addressed and safety needs covered from all aspects. Obviously, it took some time for our contractor to take over the building again and re-start work, given that Civil Defense did a lot of check ups that ensure safety of the future residents.”

She added the tower is “expected to be completed by end of January 2011, but this excluded authority approvals, which were not in Tamouh’s control.”

According to the developer, Tala Tower is completely done from a structural point of view, while MEP works are 90 per cent completed. Testing and commissioning phase is in progress and so no site visits are being entertained now.

“The information is shared with Sorouh’s technical team and it is not the final information for end buyers. I assume that only after we handover to Sorouh, and their snagging period is completed, Sorouh will be ready for handover to its individual end buyers. Thus, the date for end buyers to move in will be communicated to them by Sorouh directly,” Bouazza said.

An investor, on conditions of anonymity, said: “I have significant financial resources committed to my two apartments in Tala Tower and need to budget for completion. Having no clarity on the completion day does not help.”

He said Sorouh, with whom the investor has a sales contract, used to send periodical construction updates until there was a fire in October 2009. It was on November 15, 2009, Sorouh informed of a six-month delay with the revised completion date being June 2010.

However, February 11, 2010, Sorouh said authorities were still inspecting Tala Tower and on April 12, 2010, investors were informed that the authorities had approved construction to progress and that June 2010 still the expected completion date. Just before the end of the deadline, on June 21, 2010, Sorouh communicated the revised completion date of October 2010.

Even though investors sought a compensation for the delay, Tamouh said no decision had yet been taken on whether to compensate end users.

Bouazza said: “The incident was beyond our control and it equally affected all parties involved. We all have one objective in mind, which is minimizing any negative impact on the end buyer who chose Marina Square as his home.”

Tamouh is also not giving buyers the option to move their investment to other properties in Marina Square, as it is confident that “the building will be delivered and people will start moving in to their houses.”
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.