Real Estate Sector Faces Challenges
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www.thepeninsulaqatar.com BUSINESS | 14 SPORT | 23 Foxconn agrees with Qatar jump six Sharp on most points spots in FIFA of a takeover deal rankings SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2016 • 27 Rabia II 1437 ¿(?<E=5Źŷ¿!E=25BŽŽƀſ D85@5>9>CE<1A1D1B º@5>9>CE<1A1D1B º@5>9>CE<1űA1D1B Real estate sector faces challenges ees. The result has been significant drop in leasing activity in prime res- Companies are idential and commercial real estate increasingly looking market. Enquiries with the market sources to provide housing reveal that public sector accounts for allowances rather more than 60 percent of office leas- ing in West Bay area. Government’s Syrians fleeing the northern embattled city of Aleppo wait at Bab Al Salama, next to the city of Azaz, near Turkish crossing gate, yesterday. than provide austerity measures have resulted in accommodation to a lack of new office acquisitions by Nearly 40,000 civilians have fled a regime offensive near Aleppo, as Turkey warned it was bracing for a wave of tens of thousands of refugees. the public sector in West Bay . There employees resulting is an increasing trend of public sector in a number of companies withdrawing from the res- apartment blocks idential market as well. A valuation expert at a leading Thousands flee embattled Aleppo remaining vacant real estate and business services company told The Peninsula the government bodies and oil and gas companies are slowly withdrawing Reuters and advances in the south and north- government in a conflict that has about to begin,” said David Evans, By Satish Kanady from the market. No commercial west, helped to torpedo Geneva peace killed at least 250,000 people and Middle East programme director for The Peninsula leases in excess of 3,000sq m agreed talks this week. Russia’s intervention driven 11 million from their homes. the US aid agency Mercy Corps, which in third quarter of 2015, he said. has tipped the war President Bashar Video footage showed thousands said the most direct humanitarian There has been a fall in demand BEIRUT: Tens of thousands of Syrians Al Assad’s way, reversing gains rebels of people massing at the Bab Al Salam route to Aleppo had been severed. for corporate lettings of entire res- fled an intensifying Russian assault made last year. crossing on the Turkish border. Men “The situation in Aleppo is a DOHA: Qatar’s real estate mar- idential blocks and compounds. around Aleppo yesterday, and aid The last two days saw govern- carried luggage on their heads, and humanitarian catastrophe,” said an ket is facing challenges due to the Companies are increasingly look- workers said they feared the major ment troops and their Lebanese and the elderly and those unable to walk opposition spokesman still in Geneva ‘spending priorities’ of public sector ing to provide housing allowances city could soon fall under a full gov- Iranian allies fully encircle the coun- were brought in wheelchairs. Women after the ill-fated peace talks. and large corporates. Public sector rather than providing accommo- ernment siege. tryside north of Aleppo and cut off sat on the side of the road holding “The Russian (air) cover contin- is increasingly staying away from dation to their employees. This has Iran reported one of its gener- the main supply route linking the city babies and waiting to be allowed ues night and day, there were more acquiring new office spaces. The resulted in a number of residential als had been killed on the front line, — Syria’s largest before the war — to into Turkey. than 250 air strikes on this area in corporates and large companies are apartment blocks remaining vacant giving direct confirmation of the role Turkey. Ankara said it suspected the Rights group Amnesty Interna- one day,” Hassan Haj Ali, head of Liwa slowly withdrawing from residential as some landlords prefer to secure Tehran is playing along with Moscow in aim was to starve the population into tional urged Turkey to let in those Suqour Al Jabal, a rebel group fight- market and prefer to provide housing corporate leases, he said. what appears to be one of the most deter- submission. fleeing the latest violence, after ing in northwest Syria, said. allowances rather than leasing out mined offensives in five years of civil war. Aleppo would be the biggest reports the border remained closed. accommodations for their employ- →Continued on page 2 The government assault around Aleppo, strategic prize in years for Assad’s “It feels like a siege of Aleppo is →See also page 3 Israeli troops kill Palestinian youth Worrack wins Ladies Tour Al Shabaab captures AFP Somali port town Agencies Kenyan troops, part of an Afri- RAMALLAH: A Palestinian teen- can Union (AU) force in Somalia ager threw a petrol bomb at Israeli (AMISOM), took heavy losses when soldiers in the south of the occu- al Shabaab launched a dawn raid on pied West Bank and was shot dead MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Al Shabaab their camp near the Kenyan border yesterday, the Israeli military said. militants took control of the south- on Jan. 15, prompting the Kenyan At least two Palestinians threw ern port town of Marka yesterday and Somali forces to abandon some a Molotov cocktail at a military hours after African Union troops and positions. jeep on patrol close to Halhul north the Somalia National Army left, the The loss of Merka, the state cap- of the West Bank city of Hebron, a rebels and witnesses said. ital of Lower Shabelle, is one of the military spokeswoman said. “We now control Marka police most dramatic reverses for the AU The Palestinian health min- station and the entire town. AMISOM force in its nearly decade-long bat- istry confirmed the death, left the town early this morning,” tle against the Shebab. identifying him as 17-year-old Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al “The AU troops pulled out of the Haitham Al Bau. His death brings Shabaab’s spokesman for military town and Shebab militants entered to 165 the number of Palestini- operations, said. -- and have secured control without ans killed by Israeli forces in four Residents said the militant fighting,” Ibrahim Adam, governor months of violence. Islamist group raised its flags of the Lower Shabelle region told Near Ramallah in the West inside the town, which is situated reporters. Bank, clashes broke out as around 100km southwest of Mogadishu, and The loss of Merka comes as for- 100 youths threw stones at Israeli Trixi Worrack of Germany celebrates winning the golden jersey on the final day of the Ladies Tour of started to preach to residents using eign investigators probe a blast on soldiers who responded with Qatar in Doha yesterday. At right is Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) President Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al loudspeakers. a commercial airliner that ripped a live fire. Clashes also broke out Thani. Worrack, riding for Canyon SRAM Racing, finished in 15th spot to finish her Qatar trip with an Local police officer Hussein Elmi hole in its fuselage, 15 minutes after between Palestinian demonstra- overall time of 10:01:37. Australian rider Chloe Hosking clinched the fourth and final stage yesterday. said they had moved out of the town take-off from Mogadishu on Tues- tors and Israeli soldiers along the →Story and pictures on page 22 PIC: Salim/ The Peninsula to the outskirts without giving a rea- day, which the pilot and experts fear Gaza-Israel border. son for the move. was a bomb. HEALTH FITNESS FEBRUARY 2016 Locally grown plums a big hit at farmers’ market SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT The Peninsula iphus jujuba and it is also called as jujuba trees which produce some fruit and considered a medicine for var- Greenhouse-grown tomatoes Chinese, Korean or Indian date. Its 150 to 200kg of ‘kanar’ a day. kanar ious diseases. kanar is available at Al were sold for QR20 per box of five Hindi name is ber. According to a season is from middle of January to Mazrooa in one and five-kg packets and to six kg here. The rate the previous salesman at one of the outlets in Al the middle of May, said Iqbal, the while a kg cost QR10, the five-kg box week was QR14. Farm-grown toma- DOHA: An interesting addition to the Mazrooa, the demand for kanar is so salesman. was available for QR25 yesterday. toes were available for QR14 a box, Today’s edition includes farmers’ market in Umm Salal, known much so that he alone has sold some- kanar, according to nutritionists, However, locally grown tomatoes each also of five to six kg, while their Health & Fitness as Al Mazrooa, is the locally grown thing like 200kg in the past two days. has several key minerals and is rich and cucumber became expensive y price was QR9 last week. %@?BD1Isupplement plums, known in the Qatari parlance The farm he works for is located in vitamin C—It contains at least 20 in Al Mazrooa yesterday due to what as kanar. Its botanical name is ziz- in Umm Qarn and has hundreds of times more vitamin C than any citrus vendors said were supply concerns. →Continued on page 2 02 SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2016 HOME Georgian dancers enthral audience Family Fun Friday — Katara. One of the creative forces on Georgia is the fourth Georgian stage, the troupe performed country to present at a wide range of Georgian folk dances reflecting the way of life of Georgians the festival organised in the past. They looked stately in by the UNESCO Office their beautifully crafted colourful costumes accentuated with fabu- in Doha together with lous head dresses.