August 16, 2009

Some AED18bn ($4.9bn) worth of construction claims are estimated to be pending in Dubai, according to an official at the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC).

The body that organises adjudication in legal disputes anticipates the number of claims it will deal with this year to triple as the construction sector reels from unpaid contractor bills.

Sharon Stultz-Karim, case manager at the DIAC, told Building magazine that 180 new cases had been registered so far this year, compared to just 100 for entire 2008.

“We’re expecting about 300 [cases] by the end of the year. We’re coping as best we can,” she told the magazine.

Stultz-Karim estimated the value of the arbitration still pending to be worth AED18bn, with one case for AED10bn.

She said 80 percent of the claims were construction disputes, with the rest involving real estate.

Andrew Mellor, operational director at the Dubai branch of UK dispute resolution firm Driver Consult told the magazine: “I doubt whether Dubai will have the experts to cope with a 300-case workload.”

A leading recruiter for a Dubai-based investment firm told Arabian Business last month that the emirate has seen a big rise in demand for lawyers.

James Liley, of Human Capital Investment, said: “The construction industry has seen a huge increase in dispute cases and as such private practice law firms are setting up specialist teams to cope with this increase.”

Source: Arabian Business