The Andrejsala area is located next to the Free Port of Rīga but not needed for the port, and has been in search of identity. There have been plans to build a museum of contemporary art, later a concert hall, but none of this has materialized.
The latest developer plans are particularly grand. It is planned to construct a virtually new Rīga neighborhood with 6,500 apartments, offices, cultural venues, and a promenade. An investor from the United Arab Emirates is ready to invest billions.
This is provided for by the memorandum signed by the investor Mohamed Ali Alabbar from the company Eagle Hils with the Riga Mayor Vilnis Ķirsis (New Unity). The document promises the municipality will be responsive. There will be a “green corridor” for rapid harmonization and authorization. A couple of months ago, Alabbar already appeared in the news headlines in Latvia regarding another Rīga project – the construction of a football stadium. As part of this project, Alabbar met not only Riga City Council, but also Finance Minister Arvils Ašeradens and representatives of the Latvian Football Federation. That project has not yet moved forward.
Saeima deputy Ainārs Šlesers (Latvia First), who is linked to Andrejsala by family business interests, says he has known the Arab investor for many years: “I have met him many times. I will say that my family business is linked to this particular investor, because Arab countries – they are complex countries. The negotiations took a very long time. […] But because I'm in politics, I don't have any communication with Arab investors today.”
The company owned by members of the Šlesers family is Regma Group, which owns half of the shares in Riga Port City, an Andrejsala developer, through a number of other firms. The other half belongs to the family members of the ex-minister Andris Šķēle. Šlesers himself also held a 10% stake in Regma Group, but he withdrew on March 21, 2021 - two days before the prosecution arrested his and Šķēle's officially owned stake in the digital television criminal case. Šlesers emphasizes that he left the company not because of the criminal case, but because he went back into politics.
Asked if he had also talked to Šlesers about the Andrejsala project, Riga Mayor Ķirsis replied: “He caught me once in the Saeima somewhere and asked me about this project and told me how important the project was, but that's all.”
Alabbar is currently carrying out a similar project in Belgrade called “Belgrade Waterfront”. There, the main partner of Alabbar is the Serbian government, which owns 32% of the stake in the project. Even a special law was passed for the project and the government leased the necessary land to the investor for 99 years. The project sparked Belgrade protests, which did not stop it.
A company Riga Waterfront has already been established in Latvia for the development of the project, in which the private company of the Arab investor will be co-owner. Riga Port City, on the other hand, is responsible for the profit source: “Currently, work is still underway between the parties on the business plan so that it is justified and appropriate to the needs of the Latvian market. One source of profit could be the sale of market-demanded, relevant, and modern apartments.”
Alabbar also currently continues a project under the name “Waterfront” in the Belarusian capital Minsk. It's called North Waterfront. In mid-2022, a few months after the Russian army invaded Ukraine from Belarus territory, Alabbar met amicably with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Riga Port City calls for Minsk and Riga projects not to be linked, because in the case of Minsk, the project is carried out by Emaar Properties, a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates government, which Alabbar represents, while in Riga investments will come from Alabbar's private company.
Šlesers, for his part, emphasizes that in Belarus the Arab investor only builds houses and hotels that have no connection to the military industry.
Alabbar has met not only Lukashenko, but also Ramzan Kadyrov, dictator of Chechnya, part of the Russian Federation.
Riga Port City responds about Alabbar's meeting with dictators: “In any face-to-face talks, Mr. Alabbar has always been against any aggression. He follows the policies of the UAE government, and respects and abides by the laws of the country where he makes his private investments. As the largest private developer of UAE real estate, Mr Alabbar has responded to repeated calls from the Latvian government, Latvian presidents and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia for UAE entrepreneurs to invest in Latvia. And these investments will be strict according to Latvian law. As an investor and UAE citizen, Mr Alabbar never engages in any other country's political events.”
Concerns about the investor's relations with the aggressive neighbors are expressed by several Riga City Council deputies from the Progressives faction.
LTV addressed questions about national security concerns in the Andrejsala project to the State Security Service (VDD). VDD said that the "situation is known" and the service is continuing its assessment in accordance with its competencies. The service does not provide further comments at this time.
