Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said a $400 million Saudi-backed construction project can help transform the West Bank’s sister cities of Ramallah and El-Bireh into a regional financial hub.
“We want this to look like New York and Dubai,” Abbas said today as he attended a ceremony to mark the start of the Ersal Center, a 13-tower joint venture between the authority’s Palestine Investment Fund and the Riyadh-based Land Real Estate Investment and Development Co. “This is a new vision for Palestine.”
The project, which breaks ground next week on an El-Bireh hilltop overlooking Ramallah’s old city center, will contain the new corporate headquarters for Bank of Palestine, Chairman Hashim Shawa said. Negotiations are under way for Wataniya Palestine Mobile Telecommunications Co. to occupy a second tower, said Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinian fund’s chairman and chief executive officer. The joint venture is named Arduna.
Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad are trying to stimulate international investment with a series of construction projects that include commercial and residential buildings across the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has been conducting U.S.-mediated indirect talks with Israel aimed at reaching a Middle East peace agreement.
“We have the choice to sit back and wait for better times or we can take the fate in our own hands and be more pro-active in developing our economy in a meaningful and strategic manner,” Mustafa said in an interview after the dedication ceremony.
Bloomberg