Bulgaria’s dreams of hosting a Formula One grand prix in the near future have hit inevitable snags with finding the necessary financing to build the track, but the Government has shown no sign of abandoning the idea.

Talks with prospective investors from Qatar in spring yielded no tangible results, but the Economy Ministry said on August 30 that another Middle East investor had been found. The ministry said that it signed an economic co-operation agreement with Emirates Associated Business Group (EABG) and the first issue on the agenda, with the details to be ironed out in the near future, would be the “possibility of building a Formula One track near Sofia with all the accompanying infrastructure”.

The agreement was signed by Economy Minister Traicho Traikov and Mohammed Abdul Jalil al-Blouki, said to be the president of EABG. The agreement envisioned the creation of a joint company, with the Cabinet providing the land for the future track. Other joint projects in areas including infrastructure, agriculture, IT and real estate would be presented at a later date, the statement said.

According to the ministry, EABG was state-owned by the Abu Dhabi emirate, the largest and richest of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates.

The group’s website, however, made no reference to being owned either by the Abu Dhabi royal family or the emirate itself and did not offer any information on the group’s management or board directors. Its listed address included only a PO Box in Abu Dhabi, one telephone number and one fax.

Despite the mystery surrounding the identity of the prospective investor, the meeting drew effusive praise from Roumen Petkov, the former socialist interior minister and chairperson of the Formula One race organising committee.

“Bulgaria has never been closer to having a Formula One race track,” Petkov said, as quoted by news agency Focus. “My only concern is the short deadline for building such a large project, but knowing Bulgaria’s construction capacity and the will of our partners, I am optimistic. Finding a respectable investor is a grand achievement.”

Bulgaria secured agreement for a preliminary contract allowing it to host a Formula One Grand Prix in September 2009, but to be included on the competition calender, the race track would have to be completed by the end of 2011, a very tight deadline considering how long it took other new Formula One entrants to develop their race tracks.

Abu Dhabi’s own Grand Prix, held for the first time in November 2009, was first announced in February 2007 and its race track was estimated to have cost 900 million euro.

The high cost is partially explained by the additional work that needed to be done on the Yas Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi that hosts the race track and Bulgarian officials estimated it would take less to build a race track if the Dobroslavtsi air field near Sofia, earmarked for the purpose, is used. The 320ha plot was estimated to be worth 180 million euro by the Cabinet.

Sofia chief architect Petar Dikov said that initial estimates put the cost of construction at no less than 200 million euro, but said that no Budget funding would be used. “We have invited prospective investors and Abu Dhabi has shown interest. They have the experience because they have a race track,” Dikov was quoted as saying by Dnevnik daily.

But while costs have been estimated, it was unclear whether a similar estimate has been drafted concerning expected revenues, given the loss-making track record of some European races in recent years.

Flash Entertainment, has announced that double-Grammy Award winning rock band Linkin Park will perform on Saturday 13 November as part of the F1  concert line up on Yas Island.

California, band Linkin Park have achieved critical acclaim with albums Hybrid Theory, Meteora and Minutes to Midnight, as well as collaborations with artists such as Jay Z and Busta Rhymes. Last summer the band contributed to the score of the movie ’Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen’ which also featured the hit single “New Divide.”

John Lickrish, managing director, FLASH Entertainment, commented:
“The Flash team cannot wait to welcome Linkin Park to Yasalam 2010; the annual Formula 1™ celebration programme in Abu Dhabi. Following the rock legacy of Aerosmith last year, Linkin Park will blow audiences away at the Yasalam After-Race concerts on Yas Island this year.”

Chester Bennington of Linkin Park said: “We’re looking forward to playing at the 2010 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Dhabi Grand Prix after-race concert this year. We can’t wait to share our new music for our fans in Abu Dhabi.”

The other headline acts are still to be confirmed.

A new yacht club on Yas Island has been unveiled by architecture firm Omiros One Archiecture.

The Yacht club on Yas Island

The Abu Dhabi development is the firm’s first in the Middle East, and will host guests at the F1 event at Yas Island later this year.

The 5-star yacht club includes restaurants, bars and function rooms and a 45m observation tower. The grand foyer is anchored by a winding staircase that leads to a glass apex some 15m above ground level.

Curves are used widely in both the design of the building and the landscaped areas, to reflect the marine environment and the bows of the yachts that are expected to use the adjacent marina.

Omiros’s principal and founder Omiros Emmanouilides described the design as: “a composition of dynamic and fluid forms that link the buildings to the nautical theme, the heritage of the location and the new F1 character of Yas Island. The Yacht Club is designed to excite, inspire and strengthen the concept that is Yas.”

The construction of the Yas Marina Circuit completed in October 2009 and Yas Island and Abu Dhabi are currently gearing up to play host to the inaugural F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this November.

The seven hotels on Yas Island are almost fully booked for this year’s Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix, as they gear up for bustling activity after a subdued year so far.

The Yas Hotel. Stephen Lock / The National

“All of the hotels on the island are virtually full now [for the November F1],” said Stephen Banks, the director of sales and marketing at Aldar Hotels and Hospitality. “It’s obviously a very busy time for us. People want to be right on the track.” Mr Banks said the Yas Hotel, the five-star property that bridges the racetrack, had offered only a few rooms to the public. Most of the rooms would be occupied by people involved in the event.

The hotels are charging the same prices as last year, Mr Banks said. Yas Hotel’s room rates will be Dh3,500 (US$952) a night. There are more than 2,200 rooms on the island.

Other hotels on the island, including the Radisson Blu and Rotana Yas Island, said only a handful of suites were still available.

The hotels were demanding a three-night minimum stay, with money paid upfront and non-refundable.

The Radisson Blu and Rotana said all of their standard rooms, costing Dh2,500 a night, were fully booked for the F1 that runs between November 12 and 14.

But hotels were unlikely to cap rates this year because of new properties in the market, Mr Banks said.

“Indications are that with the extra rooms in town there won’t be a cap,” he said.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority at the start of this year said the need for rate caps was “virtually redundant” because the new hotels created enough competition to keep prices in check.

Hoteliers on the island are also eagerly awaiting the launch of the Ferrari World theme park, scheduled to open on October 28 on Yas Island, hoping it will drive more business their way. The theme park, which is mostly indoors, is to include the world’s fastest roller coaster and about 20 other rides.

“We do not provide forecasts for prospective visitor numbers. However, we are confident in our feasibility studies, which indicate that there is a huge appetite for attractions of this nature in the region,” said Claus Frimand, the general manager of Ferrari World.

“We expect that a high percentage of visitors to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will come from the local market – families in the GCC and wider Middle East.

There is a huge gap in the market for top-of-the-range family-oriented leisure options in the summer months.”

The theme park and hotels are linking up to offer special packages.

“We are obviously working very closely with Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and a number of hotels operating in Abu Dhabi, including of course those on Yas Island, to develop an exciting package for overseas visitors,” said Mr Frimand.

As the island takes shape, the master developer Aldar Properties last month announced work was about to start on a vast water park with more than 40 rides and attractions, including scuba diving, cable water skiing and a lazy river. The park’s opening is planned for 2012.

The Yas Links golf course recently opened and more development is planned for the island, which covers 25 square km, including a shopping mall and a Warner Brothers theme park.

“Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is one of several entertainment and leisure attractions [that] will make Yas Island one of the primary leisure and entertainment destinations in the region,” said Mr Frimand.

rbundhun@thenational.ae

Aldar Properties has announced that construction on the huge waterpark planned for Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island will start this month.

The 16.4 hectare water park will feature more than 40 rides and attractions, including four one-of-a-kind rides that have never been seen before in a water park.

Aldar said it has already received planning approval from the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council and has appointed UK-based Atkins as lead designer for the project.

Aldar has also initiated the prequalification process for main contractors for the project and construction work will begin in July. The project is scheduled for delivery in 2012.

Sami Asad, chief operating officer of Aldar Properties, said: “The water park will bring another distinct feature to Yas Island, further diversifying its impressive offering.

“It will be a valuable addition to the other attractions that will set Yas Island apart as a major leisure destination and will reinforce Abu Dhabi’s position as a great place to live, work and visit.”

The water park will join Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari theme park and largest attraction of its kind, which is due to on October 28.

Aldar Properties PJSC has already started the prequalification process for its planned water park on Yas Island, its major leisure and entertainment destination.

The property developer has also received the conceptual planning approval from the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council and has appointed UK-based Atkins as lead designer for the project, which is to begin construction next month and will be complete in 2012.

The 16.4 hectares water park will feature more 40 rides and will join attractions such as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari theme park which opens on 28th October; Yas Marina Circuit, host venue for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; Yas Links, the region’s first true links golf course which opened in March; and seven hotels including The Yas Hotel.

Sami Asad, chief operating officer of Aldar Properties, added that the water park adds to the other features that will set Yas Island apart “as a major leisure destination and will reinforce Abu Dhabi’s position as a great place to live, work and visit”.

Last month the company brought the first Geant supermarket to Yas Island and gained support for its (Leadership Excellence Applied Diploma) Programme from the Tourism & Development and Investment Company (TDIC), which aims to sponsor a new generation of UAE leaders.

The company made a net loss of AED314.2 million for the first quarter of 2010 against a profit of AED888.6 million for the same period the previous year. Lower than anticipated land and property sales were attributed by the company for the loss. Investment in key projects fell by almost two-thirds, falling to AED1.604 billion from AED4.5987 billion during last year’s first quarter.

Yesterday its Abu Dhabi-listed stock closed down 0.3% at AED3.12. It has lost 38% in value this year.

STR Global managing director Elizabeth Randell says that quarterly hotel performance data reveals market peculiarities in four key destinations: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah and Musc

Different Middle Eastern hotel markets are showing distinct performance trends according to the recent quarterly data from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the world’s hotel industry.

Investors and operators across the region need to be aware of these patterns that are provided by access to reliable and timely market information. The quarterly data is derived from daily data sampled by STR Global. With a database of performance figures on more than 872 hotels in the Middle East and Africa region, we are the ‘go to’ resource when it comes to better understanding this market.

When considering the four key local markets of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah and Muscat, the change in year-on-year revenue per available room (revPAR) — the key measurement of yield on hotel guest rooms — reveals a very mixed picture.

Jeddah illustrates its own market peculiarities, related to its proximity to Mecca and Medina, which have essentially allowed hoteliers to trade with a lesser influence from the global recession. The year-on-year change in revPAR for Jeddah holds steady until Q4 09 and then does not dip nearly as dramatically as the other markets. Muscat on the other hand shows negative changes in revPAR for all five quarters analysed. With occupancies pulling back from a low of 34% in Q3 09 to 65% in Q1 10, demand in Muscat is improving but average room rates are still under pressure.

The change in year-on-year revPAR in Abu Dhabi is on a slide, influenced by the additional 4400 new hotel rooms that opened there last year. The surge of openings came towards the end of 2009 with more than 3900 rooms, mainly on Yas Island, opening in the fourth quarter of 2009 alone.

Dubai has also seen significant growth in its room stock but trends in the opposite way from Abu Dhabi. Year-on-year changes in revPAR show a dramatic improvement with Q1 10 only down 1.4% on Q1 09.

Whilst revPAR for all four markets has been declining, in global terms they traded at reasonable levels in the first quarter of 2010. The figures were as follows: Abu Dhabi, US $151; Dubai $199; Jeddah $121; and Muscat, $175.

Drilling down into daily data

The daily data collected by STR Global allows an examination of business and leisure performance based on an analysis of weekday (WD) and weekend (WE) results. Do these different target audiences show different tendencies? Data for weekends in this Middle Eastern review is calculated on the nights of Thursday and Friday. However, any such analysis is clouded by the impact of the good proportion of non-local leisure travellers, especially those in transit at Abu Dhabi and Dubai with their international gateway airports, for whom the weekend is more likely to be Friday and Saturday.

Furthermore, anecdotal evidence indicates that many hotels see business guests also working either side of weekends when travelling to the Middle East. With these issues in mind two patterns emerge.

Firstly, weekday and weekend revPAR performance trend in the same way and secondly, the pattern is equally mixed across the chosen destinations.

This first trend is clearly seen in the change in year-on-year revPAR trending consistently downwards for both weekdays and weekends in Abu Dhabi. Jeddah once again has a fairly neutral performance with some slippage in weekend revPAR performance in Q4 09. Both these destinations show a turn for the better in the last few months but neither has performed as consistently as Dubai.

The change in Dubai’s revPAR in 2009/10 compared to 2008/09 shows a positive upward trend at both weekdays and weekends. Interestingly, Dubai is the only destination sampled to show a consistently lower change in revPAR at weekends compared to weekdays — an indication of the growing importance of the leisure market in this particular destination.

What is clear from this brief analysis of the chosen Middle Eastern markets is that each is different, exhibiting unique relationships between occupancy and ADR in general and at both weekdays and weekends. The complexities of this simple analysis demonstrate just how important market information is to help maximise the yield on every room to every target audience.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari theme park and largest attraction of its kind, has announced that it will open its doors to the public on October 28, 2010, three weeks ahead of the second Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

(L-R): Felipe Massa, Stefano Domenicali (team principle), Fernando Alonso.

The long anticipated opening date was announced in a ceremony held on 6th May 2010 at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, attended by representatives from Ferrari, Aldar Properties PJSC and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will pay tribute to the passion, excellence, performance, and technical innovation that Ferrari has established over the years and represents today. Its iconic sleek red roof is directly inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT body, spanning 200,000 m2 and carrying the largest Ferrari logo ever created.

In celebration of the opening date announcement, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi unveiled one of its featured attractions. Officially named “Formula Rossa,” this attraction will offer guests a once-in-a-lifetime experience blasting away on the world’s fastest roller coaster reaching speeds of up to 240 km/h. The main element of this masterpiece was unveiled in the Paddock area in front of Scuderia Ferrari’s garages at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.

After the inaugural Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix held on Yas Island on November 1 2009, the opening of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi signals a milestone in bringing Abu Dhabi global recognition. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will be a key element in expanding the appeal of Abu Dhabi to travelers, both business and leisure. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will have over 20 rides and attractions which will bring to life the Ferrari brand in ways which appeal to a diverse international audience. In addition to Formula Rossa, visitors to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will also enjoy an aerial voyage through Italy following a Ferrari, a G-force experience taking passengers on an adrenaline-pumping ride up over 62 m, through the roof and back down again, and a flume ride journey through the heart of a Ferrari 599 engine.

“We are very pleased to be a part of today’s announcement of the opening date of this unique and exciting attraction alongside our partners at Ferrari. Signature projects like this are another element of our commitment and contribution to Plan Abu Dhabi 2030, by delivering attractions that further enhance the Emirate’s credentials as an inspiring place to live and visit,” commented Mohammed Al Mubarak, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldar, Abu Dhabi’s leading property development, management and investment company, and Chairman of Farah Leisure Parks Management LLC.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is located on Yas Island, a 25 km2 entertainment and recreation destination and venue for the first Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ahead of the inaugural race last November, Aldar delivered the Yas Marina Circuit, 7 brand new hotels, Yas Marina and all the infrastructure and race-related facilities. A number of new entertainment attractions will open to the public in the few coming years, including the first Links golf course in the region opening in late 2010, and a super regional mall in 2012.

Yas Island is one component of the mass infrastructure development outlined in the Abu Dhabi Government’s 2030 Plan to diversify and expand the emirate’s economic base. When completed, Yas Island is set to be a global tourist destination.

How, I wonder, are children in the United Arab Emirates taught about their country’s recent history? While we learn about wars and monarchs, in Dubai the timeline from pearl-fishing backwater to jet-set playground is surely mapped out in milestone hotels.

The Yas hotel opened on the shores of Abu Dhabi city last October as a flagship for the emirate's brisk move into tourism

First came the sail-shaped, “seven-star” Burj Al Arab, which opened just over a decade ago and was then the world’s tallest hotel. Six years later, Abu Dhabi weighed in with the gargantuan marble and gold Emirates Palace, which the guidebooks trumpet as the most expensive hotel in the world. Now Dubai has fired back with the world’s first Armani hotel, which opened last month in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

My dirhams are on Abu Dhabi to win this game of superlatives. It is hard not to see Dubai as the young, profligate playboy who has overreached himself, while the wise old uncle next door played the waiting game. Now, suddenly and spectacularly, the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi have leapt onto the dance floor to show the world they can cut it too. Of course, it helps to have nearly 10 per cent of world oil reserves in your back garden – but while Dubai wobbles, Abu Dhabi seems set to become the emirate of choice for the discerning traveller.

One sign of this is the eye-catching Yas hotel, which opened on the shores of Abu Dhabi city last October as a flagship for the emirate’s brisk move into tourism. Hitherto the focus had been on business, and a trip here was a dull and pricey affair. Now the rulers have set a target of attracting 2.3 million visitors a year by 2012 and if the Yas is a sign of things to come, their ambitious plan could succeed. Shaped like a lady’s razor, this is the UAE’s first design hotel – and it’s a visual cracker.

Built beside a marina filled with superyachts, it has a Formula One track running underneath – offering sensational views from your room on race days. The lobby is like a fridge-white art gallery, while its exterior is transformed from an unexceptional box into a bewitchingly 21st-century spectacle by a hairnet-like “gridshell” with 5,000 LED lights that sparkle and swirl at night with slowly changing colours.

As is customary with design hotels, you need to download a manual to work the shower and turning off the lights at night is a Mr Bean-like farce. The beds and pillows could be more comfortable and some guests have complained of being kept awake at weekends by late-night music in the hotel bar. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on prices – a decent bottle of wine costs about £50 while a portion of Rice Krispies is £7. If the traffic is bad it can take an hour to get into the city centre and the surrounding Yas Island is still a building site.

Soon, though, it will be home to a championship golf course, the biggest Ikea in the Middle East and Ferrari World, the world’s largest indoor theme park, which will feature – yep, you’ve guessed it – the world’s fastest roller-coaster. Meanwhile, on nearby Saadiyat Island they are building a Louvre, a Guggenheim, a performing arts centre by Zaha Hadid – oh, and 29 more hotels…

Overwhelmed? Well, don’t go yet. Abu Dhabi doesn’t just have pots of money, it also has bags of space. Now its whole western region, Al Gharbia – which covers 71 per cent of the UAE – is being opened to investors. The grand plans include a trans-emirate railway that will run all the way to the Saudi border, along with new highways, airports and the development of offshore islands as five-star tourist resorts.

The first phase is the £2 billion transformation of Sir Bani Yas Island, which lies five miles off the mainland and was the private wildlife reserve of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Best reached on a 50-minute seaplane flight from Abu Dhabi city, its landscape would be as flat and dry as pitta bread had it not been singled out for a “greening” that introduced 2.5 million trees, all planted in graph-paper rows with a life-support of umbilical black hoses.

Most visitors to Sir Bani Yas are Emiratis taking the children to see the animals and for a snoop around what was once a royal retreat. At its northern end sits the 64-room Desert Islands Resort, which began life as a VIP guesthouse and has been turned into an assured luxury escape by the Thai hotel group Anantara.

It’s as if the Queen were to allow Ritz-Carlton to open a hotel on the fringes of the Balmoral estate. The diversions here include mountain biking, archery, Arab cooking classes and a spa, along with game drives through the wildlife park that covers almost half the island. While the Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, black buck and giraffe (along with some elusive cheetah and hyena) are of some interest, there is no escaping the artificiality of the place.

In these world-is-your-oyster times, I find it hard to recommend a sojourn on Sir Bani Yas – unless you fall into one of three categories. You are a trysting expat; you are looking for a hideaway seaside resort in the sun where you can read books, enjoy spa treatments and eat well without disturbance; you are in dire need of a good night’s sleep (at more than seven-feet square, the hotel’s beds are bliss in a box).

Far more appealing is Al Gharbia’s other great shimmering asset, the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter). Stretching all the way to Yemen, this vast sand desert gnaws at the emirate’s southern border and was famously crossed twice by Wilfred Thesiger in the late Forties. Back then it took the explorer a week to travel between the coast and the palm groves of Liwa, where the rulers of the UAE have their roots. Today you can drive from Abu Dhabi city in under two hours, crossing a landscape of – well, that’s hard to say, because the day I took this road to nowhere the country was besieged by a shamal (north-westerly wind) that provoked sandstorms, choppy seas and – my goodness – rain! The visitation was strangely pleasing, like the reverse of a snow day, and a reminder that the desert is not some slumbering beauty reclining on a box of dates but a capricious, living beast. Huge streamers of sand flew up from the dune-tops and the tarmac turned orange, as if the desert were quietly pointing out how, for all our puny efforts at civilisation, in the long run it will always win.

But, hey, we are trying, and down near Hameem, at the eastern end of Liwa, the new kings of Arabia have built a grandiose hotel that deserves, at the very least, an A* for aplomb. Opened in November, Qasr Al Sarab lies just 12 miles from the Saudi border and is built on a vast scale. There are only 206 rooms, but this fortress-like resort is more than a mile long, gently curved to take in panoramic views of mountainous dunes, a valley dotted with luminous bean caper bushes and the setting sun. If your idea of a desert encounter is one that comes with a palm-lined swimming pool, coconut bodywraps and wagyu beef tail parmentier on the side, then Qasr Al Sarab is a mirage come true.

And what else would you expect from Abu Dhabi? While some hotels you love instantly, others take time to befriend – and that is the case here. Unusually, the cheapest rooms are arguably the best, with a spacious garden area. Others come with a balcony or terrace, while families and honeymooners are well served by commodious villas with private pools and sundecks. Thai therapists float through the spa, an accomplished French chef oversees the gourmet restaurant, the lobby doors are opened by 7ft-tall men specially imported from Pakistan. There’s an engrossing library and a children’s club, along with the expected camel treks, 4×4 desert drives and dinner in a Bedouin tent.

All this is good holiday fun, but of course many of us are drawn to the Empty Quarter because it is exactly that. While Qasr Al Sarab is manna for the well-heeled winter sun-seeker, it can also satisfy guests who yearn to take a lone, soul-succouring walk into the sea of dunes. As an old Arab saying goes, “The desert is the Garden of Allah”, from which all superfluous life was removed so that “there might be one place where He can walk in peace”.

Just watch out for the bulldozers.

Getting there

Etihad Airways (0800 731 9384; www.etihadairways.com) flies to Abu Dhabi from London Heathrow and Manchester, from £358 return including taxes.

Where to stay

The Yas Hotel (00971 2 656 0000; www.theyashotel.com), double rooms from £151. Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara (00971 2 801 5400; www.anantara.com), doubles from £301 including breakfast and two excursions. Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara (00971 2 886 2088; www.anantara.com), doubles from £362, including breakfast.

Packages

Destinology (0800 634 2866; www.destinology.co.uk) offers tailor-made packages. A six-night tour, spending two nights in each hotel, costs from £1,459 per person including return economy flight from Heathrow, transfers by road and breakfast (price valid for holidays booked by May 15 for travel between June 1 and July 15). Other operators include Best At Travel (020 7849 4180; www.bestattravel.co.uk) and Premier Holidays (0844 493 7542; www.premierholidays.co.uk)

Information

Abu Dhabi (Berlitz £4.99) is a new pocket guide. Useful websites are www.visitabudhabi.ae and www.algharbia.ae

The Ferrari World theme park on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island is on schedule to open in the third quarter of this year, a senior official from giant developer Aldar has revealed.

PARK PLAN: Aldar officials are aiming for a Q2 or Q3 opening, at the latest for the theme park.

“I don’t have a firm date yet, because there is still a lot of testing to be done, for the rollercoaster for example,” Aldar marketing director Ousama Ghannoum told Arabian Business during the Cityscape Abu Dhabi event.

“But it should open at the beginning of the second half, maybe in the third quarter.”

Ferrari World is set to be the world’s largest indoor theme park at launch, covering a 200,000 square metre area.

Aldar says the park will feature around twenty major attractions, including what is being marketed as the world’s fastest rollercoaster.

The GT rollercoaster sends two competing replica F430 Spider ‘cars’ along twisting parallel tracks in a ‘race’ to the finish line.

Ghannoum confirmed that Aldar would be delivering “most” of the villas at the developer’s Al Gurm Resort in July or August this year.

“Work is also continuing at full speed at the Al Falah project for nationals, where the government is the client,” the executive said.

“The first village in Al Falah, which constitutes a thousand villas, will be delivered in the second half of next year.”