Dubai CommerCity posts 18.5% jump in investment value

dubai — Dubai CommerCity, a joint venture between Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) and the Wasl Asset Management Group, has announced its participation for the first time in Gitex Technology Week 2018.

CommerCity will showcase the development phases of the project and its solutions to global and regional e-commerce companies. The investment value of Dubai CommerCity has increased by 18.5 per cent to Dh3.2 billion in total with an increase in the total leasable area by 32.5 per cent. Launched in 2017, Dubai CommerCity is an area of 2.1 million square feet located in Umm Ramool, an area that witnessed a surge of 120 per cent in those looking to do business there according to ProperityFinder.

It is forecasted that the e-commerce market in the region will be worth $48.6 billion in 2022, up from an estimated $26.9 billion in 2018. As such it is expected that Dubai CommerCity will gain strategic importance as it seeks to consolidate Dubai’s presence as a major global e-commerce hub. This will support the national economic diversification strategies and smart transformation plans by attracting foreign direct investment to the sector. The GCC is expected to contribute 43 per cent by 2022 from the Middle East and Africa e-commerce retail market, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest and fastest growing markets.

“Dubai CommerCity is a strategic initiative that will position ecommerce as an economic driver for growth in Dubai. It aims to attract foreign direct investment within this sector, which is witnessing huge growth already in the Middle East, led by developments in Dubai,” said Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, director general of Dafza. “In the UAE and Saudi Arabia the market is expected to grow by 16.4 per cent over the next three and a half years. The UAE’s e-commerce sector is expected to reach $10 billion by 2018 compared to 2014 figures of $2.5 billion, this is equivalent to a spectacular 400 per cent growth by the end of this year.”

Dr Al Zarooni linked this growth to the youth demographic in the region, with high penetration rates of internet, smart mobile phones and the use of social media. According to reports issued in 2017 by the TRA, the rate of internet penetration in the UAE accounted for 90 per cent of the population, some of the highest rates in the world. He highlighted that it is not surprising that youth continue to adopt modern shopping patterns, including the use of online platforms.

“We are creating value and benefits through Dubai CommerCity to make it attractive to investors and to enable them to benefit from the strategic location close to Dubai Airport, which gives them the opportunity to reach more than 2.4 billion people within five hours ,” added Al Zarooni.