Marwan bin Ghalita, RERA

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency in Dubai is to hold a series of open days to improve communication with property investors.

Every Tuesday one of the departments within the agency will open its doors to investors, developers and banks, RERA said. The aim is to improve customer relations and transparency,

'RERA is widening the arena of communication between our staff and customers. These open days will be an entirely new form of communication,' explained chief executive Marwan bin Ghalita.

It will begin with the escrow account department. Staff will be available to answer questions from property investors, developers and banks. The department hosting each open day will meet with customers at a special counter.

'This service provides a new source of information about RERA services and eases enquiries. Furthermore, RERA has implemented technological tools to increase the amount of time saved by customers,' said Essa Al Mansouri, head of the escrow account department.

The agency has also increased the number of counters from three to four in order to facilitate the service.

Meanwhile the agency is coming under pressure to deal with a dispute between property investors and the Jumeirah Lakes Towers ebony project.

Some 500 property investors from around the world have signed a petition seeking the Dubai Ruler's intervention in a long running dispute. They want the Dubai Ruler's Court to investigate and RERA to cancel the project over claims that the developer Al Fajer Properties and its marketing company Dynasty Zarooni issued faked photographs and misleading press releases.

An investor campaign group said it is essential for RERA to conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation to resolve the matter quickly because of the potential damage it may cause to overall investor confidence in Dubai.

In its complaint, the investor group claim that advertisements in a local daily newspaper published in July 2008 that show construction of six floors but the pictures were of Al Fajer's other project, Jumeirah Business Centre Towers. In reality, the site for Ebony Ivory Towers was merely a hole on the ground with no workers or machinery on site.

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