Bando banks on Dubai to become international hub
by Tim Wood
After developing major projects in the Korean market, Bando is looking to Dubai to become a major hub. Korean construction giant, Bando, has chosen to set up in Dubai ahead of several other international locations. The US $500 million (AED1.8 billion) turnover developer has arrived in the city to construct two 50-storey towers in Business Bay.
The $350 million residential and commercial development can now go ahead after Dubai Properties agreed to sell three plots of land to Bando for
$100 million. But according to Bando’s chairman Hong Sa Kwon, choosing Dubai for its first venture outside of South Korea was made only after an exhaustive selection process. “Dubai was one of many countries we started speaking about in September last year. But we felt Dubai was the hub, not only for the Middle East, but Europe and other continents as well, and we feel it has the potential to become even more prosperous than Hong Kong or Singapore.
“There is a lot of investment pouring into Dubai from western countries and other regions in the GCC, and that makes Dubai a very attractive investment,” said Kwon.
Although Bando is the first Korean firm to invest in the Dubai property market, Kwon is encouraged by the success of some of the projects other Korean firms are working on.
“Sanyo has done good work on the Emirates Towers, while Samsung is currently involved on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai,” he said.
“We may be the first developer, but their work has been remarkable and we want to emulate their success. We are actively talking to the likes of Samsung, Ssangyong, Hyundai and Daewoo to help us develop our work over here.” Kwon has not ruled out further projects in Dubai. “Absolutely, the success of this first project will determine the second and third in terms of sizes and appearance.” Construction work on the project is expected to begin in March 2007.
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by Tim Wood
After developing major projects in the Korean market, Bando is looking to Dubai to become a major hub. Korean construction giant, Bando, has chosen to set up in Dubai ahead of several other international locations. The US $500 million (AED1.8 billion) turnover developer has arrived in the city to construct two 50-storey towers in Business Bay.
The $350 million residential and commercial development can now go ahead after Dubai Properties agreed to sell three plots of land to Bando for
$100 million. But according to Bando’s chairman Hong Sa Kwon, choosing Dubai for its first venture outside of South Korea was made only after an exhaustive selection process. “Dubai was one of many countries we started speaking about in September last year. But we felt Dubai was the hub, not only for the Middle East, but Europe and other continents as well, and we feel it has the potential to become even more prosperous than Hong Kong or Singapore.
“There is a lot of investment pouring into Dubai from western countries and other regions in the GCC, and that makes Dubai a very attractive investment,” said Kwon.
Although Bando is the first Korean firm to invest in the Dubai property market, Kwon is encouraged by the success of some of the projects other Korean firms are working on.
“Sanyo has done good work on the Emirates Towers, while Samsung is currently involved on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai,” he said.
“We may be the first developer, but their work has been remarkable and we want to emulate their success. We are actively talking to the likes of Samsung, Ssangyong, Hyundai and Daewoo to help us develop our work over here.” Kwon has not ruled out further projects in Dubai. “Absolutely, the success of this first project will determine the second and third in terms of sizes and appearance.” Construction work on the project is expected to begin in March 2007.
R
