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Dubai: The future of the Jumeirah Village residential development has been thrown into doubt after a Dubai resident received a letter from developers Nakheel telling him construction work on his villa has been cancelled.
The letter said major highways proposed by the government would run across the site, forcing Nakheel to drop plans to build the project's two to four-bedroom villas.
Nearly 2,900 freehold villas and close to 3,200 town houses divided into themed villages were initially planned for the Emirates Road development, but work never started.
A Nakheel spokesperson said the project will go ahead, but in a "revised format" to accommodate the majority of those people who chose not to withdraw their investments, estimated at 20 per cent of initial investors.
However, the spokesperson did not specify how many units would remain or the total land area of the new master plan.
Fayez Al Hail, 40, a Qatari who has lived in Dubai for more than 10 years, said he paid a 10 per cent down payment of Dh175,000 on a two-bedroom villa at the site when sales started in 2004.
Al Hail, an Emirates airline captain, said he was given a chance to get his money back in 2005 when Nakheel announced the project would be delayed, but said he was urged by the company to "have faith in the project".
"A lot of people withdrew their money, but I trusted them and this is how they treat me," he said.
The letter he received on July 29 from Yousuf Kazim, general manager at Jumeirah Village, cited "numerous infrastructure changes initiated by the government of Dubai" for the cancellation.
It singled out the proposed east and west parallel roads, a six-lane carriageway connecting Dubai World Central International Airport to Deira, designed to ease traffic congestion.
"These highways run right across the development of Jumeirah Village, causing major impediments to executing the existing master plan," the letter stated.
Nakheel said it will refund booking deposits and payments, but Al Hail insists losing out on interest he could have made on the down payment is not a major concern.
"When a company sells units in a development and takes people's money, it must provide a contract and floor plan," he said.
"What makes me most unhappy is that this is a huge company which asked people to have faith in its ability to deliver. Now they have changed their mind and have not given me an opportunity to invest in the revised development or a different project as a way of compensation."
In a statement released by Nakheel, Yousuf Kazim, general manager at Jumeirah Village, said: "It is with regret that Nakheel has had to make major changes to the Jumeirah Village masterplan following its initial launch in 2004. This was due to government initiated infrastructure changes which were beyond our control.
"The immediate effect of this announcement regarding the proposed changes was to seriously delay the project and this was communicated to all investors immediately. All investors were offered their money back with no cancellation fee and as a result 80 per cent of investors chose to cancel. All investors were also kept regularly updated as to the project's progress through quarterly circulars. We regret the inconvenience this has caused our investors. However, it has been caused by circumstances beyond our control."
Al Hail said he has never received quarterly circulars informing him of project updates and was at no point given an opportunity to invest in a revised project.
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