Main Arab Investor, Developer Of 'North Waterfront', Leaving Belarus

The reason is sanctions against Lukashenka's regime.

Reuters, citing sources close to the situation, reports that Mohammed Ali Alabar, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) property tycoon and developer of the famous Burj Khalifa, has initiated the sale of all his Belarusian assets, including the elite and multifunctional North Waterfront residential complex, which had just started to be built in Minsk. Lukashenko reacted to the news.

"The main investor of the multi-billion dollar North Waterfront project in Minsk and the manager of the Emirati company Emaar Properties, Mohammed Ali Alabar, has reached a preliminary agreement on the sale of all his assets in Belarus due to Western sanctions," writes Reuters, citing two sources close to the situation.

In addition, the sources call his new construction project in Serbia, which is conducted in cooperation with American businessman Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump, an additional reason for Alabar's leaving of Belarus.

Alabar's Serbian project involves the redevelopment of the former Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade into a modern and high-tech residential complex, Reuters sources said.

Alabar himself refused to comment to Reuters on the reasons for his leaving Belarus and the identity of the potential buyer of his Belarusian assets. At the same time, Lukashenka's press service said that Alabar's decision "became news" for him, notes the agency.

We remind you that Aliaksandr Lukashenka issued special decree № 186 "On the implementation of the investment project" for the North Waterfront project in 2021. It gives the investor numerous preferences, the main of which is that it is allowed to increase the density of construction almost twice as much as the limit, approved earlier by various ministries.

Environmentalists feared that if the North Waterfron tproject is implemented in the form promised by investors, the centre of the capital of Belarus would probably suffocate from constant smog. After all, the building density will be over-limited (much higher than "Minsk-Mir" or "Mayak Minsk"), and the height of buildings - more than 50 metres.

The North Waterfront has just started to be built in the north of Minsk. Almost a thousand hectares of land have been allocated for it, and the cost of the project is estimated at least 4 billion euros (about 15 billion Belarusian rubles).

The entire complex was planned to be completed by 2040. More than 30 thousand people could potentially live on its territory.