Emaar founder Alabbar not inclined to take on Gaza rebuild work

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By Maha El Dahan

ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Dubai real estate developer Emaar has not been approached for any post-war Gaza reconstruction work and would not be inclined to do any, said its founder and chairman Mohammed Alabbar.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has envisaged the creation of a new Riviera in Gaza, Alabbar said on Wednesday rebuilding should be done by those responsible for the destruction. 

“It’s my philosophy … that everybody should clean up his garbage,” he told the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit in Abu Dhabi.

“I’m very focused on making money for my shareholders,” he added.

Emaar, a building block of Dubai’s expansion into a global economic player in recent decades and developer of the world’s tallest building, is involved in projects worldwide. 

Its Marassi Red Sea tourism development in Egypt alongside Saudi and local investors will involve investment of $17 billion, Alabbar said. 

Emaar is also looking at possible new projects in India and China. 

“Their evolution of economic development in India is quite good. China is also, you know, still suffering with their housing problem but you know they’ll come up with it,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. housing shortage is “a disaster” that should be a focus for Trump, he said, urging states and major companies to work together on the problem. 

“You can talk about autonomous cars, investment in, you know, data centers. Thank you so much. We want to have a house,” Alabbar added. 

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(Reporting by Maha Eldahan, Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alexander Smith)