February 14, 2008

The tallest building in Amman to be constructed in Abdoun

This is the first announced towers to be constructed at the new planned master plan in Abdoun and the second twin towers after Jordan gate which is still under construction. Do you think that this is a success to the Master Plan? What other measures do we need to look at?


AMMAN (JT) - A major United Arab Emirates real estate firm on Wednesday launched its operations in Amman, announcing the construction of twin towers in Abdoun.

The $300 million project, to be completed in three years, includes two high-rises housing 600 apartments, Limitless CEO Saeed Ahmad Saeed said at a press conference yesterday to announce the launch of the company’s investment activities in the Kingdom.

This is the second twin tower project in Amman, after Jordan Gate, which is under construction near the 6th Circle.

The 200-metre-high 60-storey towers will include a 1,000-square-metre indoor area designated for retail and entertainment outlets, Saeed told reporters yesterday.

The towers will be surrounded by 5,600 square metres of land as external space, which characterises all of the company’s projects, he noted.

Amman Mayor Omar Maani said this comprehensive project proves that the Amman Master Plan is a success.

Initiated in June 2006 as a response to the tremendous growth the capital has witnessed over the past several years, the Amman Master Plan seeks to provide a clear direction for sustainable development of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) over the next 20 years in accordance with new planning legislation.

Last year, GAM announced four phases of the Master Plan: The tower, corridor intensification, industrial land policy and the interim rural residential policy.

The Limitless twin towers will be located in Abdoun, one of the four areas designated for high-rises in the capital, according to the GAM press centre.

“The project location was selected after accurately studying the required infrastructure, roads and green areas,” Maani said, during yesterday’s press conference.

The towers will be the highest structures in Jordan, and among the tallest in the Middle East, GAM Press Centre Director Taha Abu Redin told The Jordan Times.

Also yesterday, the GAM council approved an agreement between the municipality and Limitless, under which the company will buy a plot of land in Abdoun estimated at JD6.715 million, according to a GAM statement released yesterday.

Limitless, the “global master development arm” of Dubai World, was established in July 2005, with the key objective of diversifying and globalising Dubai’s portfolio of development companies by leveraging the know-how and exposure gained by Dubai World’s real estate initiatives through the “Nakheel” project.

The company is currently implementing projects in Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and the UAE, with more to come in Europe, South Asia and the Gulf region.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Amman Mayor Omar Maani said this comprehensive project proves that the Amman Master Plan is a success."

Let me translate above crapspeak: Omar Maani shall take credit for anything that he has no control over.

Amman Voice said...

Shall or Shall not?
It's too early to talk about any success. Success doesn't come by building Towers. The success is the success of a city as a whole to be "livable".

M Kilany said...

"Limitless" has a nice ring to it... Abdali project is taking a limitless delay in construction, and talk issss cheap... I'm beginning to wonder... will we live to see the towers "inhibited"...

Anonymous said...

hi, can anyone tell me what are the four areas designated for high-rises in the capital. also, what kind of future does the south of Amman have? the towns of abu alhusani and khan al zabib? thank you.

Amman Voice said...

I don't really care about any "Towers" built in Amman. We should care more about building Amman, I mean the existing Amman. It's infrastructure, urban environment and neighbourhoods which needs alot of development and not an expansion policy. We need to build communities and not real estate brokers.

The Observer said...

I like towers :), and will be looking forward to see them going up. Thanks for the news :)

Anonymous said...

Well Amman...is at the start of change now...there is confusion towards wat should be done...but its clear that the new areas will have better servuces more planning and better living standards that the older parts and thats wat i would classify as success...the older parts should have another plan towards making them better and more effective...

Amman Voice said...

Looks great, but, what about the existing chaoes and why expanding and expanding your problems with it? We have enough lands and buildings to be fixed. They are turning their back to Amman, it's heritage and people, and starting new areas?

Anonymous said...

true enough but yet again its linked to investors...that want to invest in jordan...its better to put all of them in one place...rather than a random investments that will look stupid and misplaced....example: Jordan Gate! and the investors want to invest so why go against them and thro them out...just create new areas for them...and with the new buildings rising...the old parts will start blossoming as well since smaller investors will have to be more carefull about their building to keep attracting customers to their place. P.S ive seen ur articles about the traffic problems in amman...that is so true...its becoming un-acceptable something should be done...more fines/ cameras/ implement the black dot system where u get like 12 balck dots then they take ur license and u have to retake the exam...i bet like 75% of the drivers in jordan will be without lisences if that happens :p

Anonymous said...

It's a shame all this towers in Amman City, just to look like others metropolitan areas worldwide. Amman is loosing is beautiful landscape only for economical reasons. What a pity...

Anonymous said...

What is the global idea ? Where is the global urbanistic politic ? Building towers... What does it mean ? To do like Beirut ? Dubaï ? Where is the human point of view ? There's no urban politic in Amman ! It's only questions of money... It's very sad. And now those towers are big scarefaces in for what was Amman known all around the world (look to the touristic books) : its lanscapes, its jabels of buildings which are changing of color with the sun...
I'm very sad for Amman... Its a no-return point :-(

GC

Anonymous said...

well its not the towers that are killing the view...its the ugly stupid buildings that dont have any point that are...infact tho towers will create a nicer view of amman...its a missing factor i think...and yes i do believe we could economic progress is important...anyways the towers are not replacing any old buildings infact no tower has replaced any nice "7ajar' buildings...i dont see anything wrong with having a few towers pointing out...its just economics progress and employement that does no harm and gets some more atraction towards jordan...and yeah i believe its a hell alot of enployment...today i learn an interesting fact...a 650 million Euro project employeed after its construction 4000 people...in addition to 300-400 million a year from the project...this does not include all the other businesses that benefits from it...amazing no???

BF

Amman Voice said...

Traffic problems are not only about having a law. It's about awareness and implementation, at the operational and managerial level.

Amman is or was unique with it's architecture, city skyline and human dimension. Starting from the beginning of the 90s a lot of damages happened to our city and there was no planning at all.

Until recently with the wise vision from his Royal Highness king abdullah who ordered a city planning for Amman. I am not sure if the GAM understood what to do with the vision. I don't think they understand what is Urban development and planning. It was interpreted as an expansion plan, and build something like Dubai with the tallest, the biggest, the first, and the weirdest ideas and "Towers".

We say now: Couldn't we develop a master plan for Amman by fixing what’s wrong in the city instead of expanding into new areas?

Amman is not new like Dubai and the nature of the development and projects need to be coherent with the nature of the place and it's character.

Bottom line: Amman is unique and it's not like any other city. Bottom line: Amman is not Dubai...

Unfortunately, we are losing that :(

shame on us

A well traveled group of friends from Italy and Netherlands live and work in Dubai visited Amman recently and expressed that they never seen a city like Amman, how it's heterogeneous and hilly, with different places and classes and they all expressed their dislike of the towers being under construction.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry... I'm looking every where on your blog... and still have one question :

* What about eastern Amman ?

Second question which is coming from the first one :

* East Amman is still in Amman ? Isn't it ?

Anonymous said...

you say "We say now: Couldn't we develop a master plan for Amman by fixing what’s wrong in the city instead of expanding into new areas?"
but it's to late... the evil is made...

Amman Voice said...

What about East Amman?

I would love to see someone sharing us his/her daily experiences of " East " Amman.

I did mention the developments in East Amman many times and I have the main Blog picture taken from East Amman. Check also the Blog Flickr pictures, most of them from East Amman. However, you are right maybe I need to talk more about East Amman, but the problem is that I live and work in West Amman, which I don't really like.

East Amman needs lots of attention and that's why I criticize the leadership of the city development being from the Top Down and not Down Top.

Anonymous said...

Will it be the tallest of Amman ?
I'm not sure....
There's a tower in Al Abdali's project which is 220m high : The Bank Tower (in the western part) made by Foster...
Am I right ?

Anonymous said...

Also (I sent the messag of the March 10th), I would like to know if this project is part of Southern Gateway or Central Parkway, cause You say it will be in C zone but also in Abdoun neighbourhood... not very clear and sure...

Thanks

Anonymous said...

The tallest building will be the Bank Tower and the Limitless towers are not in zone C as you said but in zone A !!! In the central Parkway area !
Mistakes !!!

Amman Voice said...

It cost $300,000,000 to build 600 apartments. Thats $500,000 the cost of the apartment, add to it %25 - 50% profit. About $625,000 - $750,000 an apartment in Abdoun? who will live there?

What's the average salary of a Jordanian employee?


Didn't the Towers and high density Mix use startegy, Amman Master Plan Development, were introduced to solve Amman planning?

If so, why the towers are made for the elite only? Even I don't support building towers, why not building high rise affordable towers? for Mid-Low Class. Why we look at Towers as an elite and expensive building solution? or it's just like what the profit said: (meaning): " talking about the marks of the reserection day, seeing people of the barefoot, naked, goat shepperds competing on building high buildings" ?

Anonymous said...

I've got the same point of you...

I hope somebody will hear us...

but... It's already too late...

Amman is gona be an international metropolitan city

-with its few richs, who are its window on the world, and who are benefiting o this urban politic (which is very neoliberal and economic oriented)

-and its poors, hidden but increasingly many....

Anonymous said...

well then...start working on getting a piece of the action before its too late...