A LUXURY housing community dedicated to Emirati citizens is set to take shape near the new Capital District and close to Al Raha Beach area.

Appropriately named Watani – the Arabic for ‘My Nation’ – the master-planned development near the Abu Dhabi Golf Club aims to address the need for quality housing for Emirati families and will provide a broad range of accommodation within distinct family-oriented neighbourhoods.
Spread over a total area of 1.8 million sq m, the project will feature 1,370 four- and five-bedroom villas, in addition to 40 low- to mid-rise apartment buildings housing 1,176 apartments of three and four bedrooms. The community will be served by three local mosques and one Grand Mosque; a community centre; Olympic-standard sporting facilities; and an International British School. The entire development – Sorouh Real Estate’s first master-developed community dedicated to Emirati citizens – will be completed by the end of 2012.

Most of the enabling works on site have been completed and work has started on the foundations of the development. Abu Dhabi-based PAL Technologies is the main contractor on the project.
Sorouh was awarded a contract by Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council (UPC) in April this year to masterplan and develop Watani.
“The Watani contract is an important step for Sorouh, which has plans to develop a second master-planned community for nationals, Shamkha, also close to the new Capital City,” says a spokesman for Sorouh. “Both projects demonstrate Sorouh’s strong partnership with the Abu Dhabi government, and highlight Sorouh’s alignment of its strategy with Plan Abu Dhabi 2030, the emirate’s blueprint for economic advancement. One of the goals in the Plan is to provide superior homes in master-planned communities to meet the current estimated demand for 60,000 quality homes for national families.”
Watani has been designed using a ‘fareej’ structure – a traditional architectural design concept where homes are built in clusters to form a neighbourhood or village. The fareej style takes into account factors such as the climate, social and historical influences, and combines Emirati heritage and close community ties with modern lifestyle elements to deliver a contemporary way-of-life, says the spokesman.
At Watani, each fareej – comprising 20 to 30 villa units – will incorporate neighbourhood parks, local parks and sikkas (walkways), and will also feature a one-way access loop to reduce road traffic. In addition, Sorouh’s provision of a master-planned design will offer all the benefits and amenities residents will need – from clinics and schooling to mosques, retail facilities and entertainment, the spokesman adds.
Sorouh’s chief commercial officer Fahed Al Ketbi comments: “As a trusted partner of the Abu Dhabi Government, and as part of our dedication to Plan 2030, Sorouh is involved in addressing the housing shortfall for local people through the timely delivery of superior residential communities, such as Watani, that preserve our national identity while also offering all the benefits and convenience of a modern lifestyle.
“Watani will offer villas in seven different configurations to suit a variety of requirements and tastes. This will relieve local families of the burden of building homes themselves, which can prove troublesome for those with little experience of construction.”
Sorouh’s focus on developing master-planned communities that will appeal to nationals will also help Sorouh increase its current proportion of government-related projects from 25 per cent of its total developments to around 50 per cent.