Rekan Group: Ahmed Rikany on Rekan Group and the Real-Estate Sector in Iraqi Kurdistan

Ahmed Rikany, Chairman of Rekan Group and President of Kurdistan Investors Union talks about the real estate bubble in Iraqi Kurdistan and Rekan Group.

A propos the real estate bubble Rikany says; “we as investors believe that the number of houses and residential units in the Kurdistan Region is not sufficient. There is still a need but at this time there are some allegations and rumors related to the real estate market and all of them have been created for political reasons to make people hesitate when thinking of buying houses because there are some rumors spreading out and the central government is behind it, talking about the instability in the region and we believe that the central government in Baghdad has created this crisis in order to negatively influence the development of the market. However, we see that there is a need for 350,000-500,000 houses while there are currently only 120,000. Moreover, the number of residents is increasing so the demand for houses is there.”

Rekan Group is a conglomerate with vested interests in real-estate development, contracting construction and other activities. The group was established in 1997. Since the inception the group has been involved in iconic real-estate development in Iraqi Kurdistan such as New City Centre project, Megamore and Greeland. Currently, the group is working in line with the KRG investment strategy by developing tourism projects like Chiay Safeen, a project worth US$ 1 billion.