plus story residential towers in Ajman, with more than 55 development projects worth of hundreds of billions of dirhams scheduled to appear in the coming months, according to real estate statistics. “Most of these projects are residential investments,” said Mohamed Al-Zarah, vice president of GREAT Properties. He cited the rising prices in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi as well as Ajman's investment readiness as causes for the unfolding real estate boom. “The capital flight from other emirates toward Ajman and the increasing demand on the property market have led to the launch of a large number of residential projects all over the emirate.” The demand for commercial areas follows that for residential investments. “Due to the all-encompassing development drive adopted by the emirate of Ajman, there is an urgent need for commercial space. Demand is growing due to the establishment of many projects and offices in the emirate,” said Al-Zarah, whose company sells and markets properties in the UAE and is preparing to enter the Saudi market. “Tourist investments follow commercial investments closely, with the government of Ajman having developed a large-scale plan suited to the emirate's location and relevant to its ambitions to establish itself as a key tourist destination in the region.” Al-Zarah said that he expects to see a real estate boom in Ajman in the future, thanks to new strategies embraced by the Ajman government, and developed in response to residents and potential investors' basic needs. Ajman is currently the only emirate in the UAE offering investors of any nationality fully transparent true 100 percent freehold ownership on real estate. This in turn has prompted the Ajman government to initiate a number of development projects. New Ajman is the name given to the area being developed outside of the current Ajman city, located by the Emirates Road. New Ajman will consist of many new developments and projects envisioned by Chief of Municipality Sheikh Rashid Al- Nuaimi. One of the first developments of New Ajman is called “The Emirates City”, a brand new city located directly on the Emirates Road to be built from scratch consisting of more than 100 mid- and high-rise buildings. A number of shopping malls, hotels and residential villas are also planned to eventually extend all the way to the “Al Zoura” area, where beachside developments are planned. Ajman International Airport hosting about two million passengers per year has also been announced, and construction will start in the second half of 2008 in the Al-Manama area of the Ajman, and airport operations are set to start by 2011. __
