Ain Khalid is witnessing a construction boom as a large number of private villas are being built in the neighbourhood.
The area has seen rapid development over the years and is home to a growing number of people. This has spurred heightened construction activity in the locality.
The level of services has improved considerably in the area with the municipality providing basic facilities, including paving of streets, street lighting, road signage and other necessary infrastructure.
However, some residents say the area lacks a proper family garden or park, which can provide recreational options to
people living there.
Recalling the development witnessed in the area, a long-time local resident said: “Around five years ago, many of these buildings, streets and bylanes were not there. It was almost a vacant desert area with only a few inhabitants. But now, construction is going on everywhere with many expatriates willing to come and live in the area due to reasonable rental rates. But these, too, are becoming high now.”
The area is turning into a busy residential suburb on the outskirts of Doha with easy access to the Industrial Area, Salwa Road and the Abu Hamour central market. It has also become an attractive location for some new shopping centres.
The construction styles reflect various types of architecture, with a number of buildings featuring fancy decorations. The buildings are essentially two-storied, with at the most a penthouse in them (the maximum that is allowed there).
“Construction, which is going on in different parts of the area, starts early in the morning and continues until sunset. During Ramadan, most contractors prefer to shift their working hours to night and work there until the late hours. Besides standalone villas with their varied styles and decorations, depending on the preferences of the owner and the budget, there are a lot of villa complexes that follow a simple building pattern. These are usually undertaken by real estate development companies,” said an expatriate project manager currently working in the area.
He said some villa owners are building such properties as an investment and not for their personal use. “Some prefer a design that will make it easy (for them) to rent a villa as smaller units that can accommodate a number of families. These can then be offered at reasonable rents and the building will not be left vacant for months with no income due to high asking rates,” he
explained.
Yet, many owners prefer to leave issues such as renting to real estate brokers, posting high rents and preferring to leave the building vacant for months to
reducing the price.
“Some do not care and leave their buildings vacant for many months, or even years, until they get the rent they ask for. Others have a more flexible attitude and welcome any reasonable offer so as to make the building profitable all the time,” said a local property owner in the area.
He said building costs and land prices have gone up to “unprecedented” levels and owners and investors want to ensure that they are able to recover the investment with adequate profits to take care of their financial obligations.
