A new law has been issued in the Emirate of Dubai relating to the allocation of governmental land for use by public entities. Dubai Law Number 6 of 2025 (the "New Law") was issued on 7th April 2025 and came into force on 6th May 2025.
The driving force behind the New Law is clearly set out in the legislation itself, to enable the allocation of governmental lands to align with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. Practically speaking, the changes will enable the government of Dubai to allocate and in some cases reorganise the allocation of governmental land to public entities in a way that is sustainable and optimal to suit the needs of the Emirate. But, in parallel, implementation of the New Law will also ensure that public entities have the necessary headquarters and facilities to provide the public services for which they were created. Whilst the powers conferred by the New Law are broad, certain land is excluded from its scope, such as governmental land that is allocated for the military and security agencies.
At the centre of administering the powers conferred by the New Law, is the Dubai Municipality ("Municipality"). Overall approval shall be reserved for the Ruler for allocation to any federal government entity, and to the director-general for any local government entity (Article 5). The Municipality will be permitted to (Article 7):
- Receive and assess applications for allocation of governmental lands;
- To determine suitable sites depending on the specific need and function of the applicant public entity;
- In the case of allocation to a federal government entity, to submit recommendations for approval to the Ruler (or his representative);
- To issue site maps;
- To establish a register to record the allocation of governmental lands;
- To re-take governmental land already allocated to a public entity;
- To monitor ongoing compliance by public entities with the usufruct of the allocated governmental land; and
- To review and update the standards for the allocation of governmental lands.
In consideration of allocation, there are a set of general and special standards that such allocation shall be subject to (Article 8). The general standards shall include assessing the actual critical need for, and availability of the governmental land, as well as the ensuring the objective of the New Law is met. The special standards delve into more detail, depending on whether the allocation of the governmental land will be for office headquarters, public facilities or industrial investment lands as follows:
- For office headquarters - if the number of employees at the proposed office headquarters is more than 500;
- For public facilities – to be allocated in accordance with planning standards set out in the Manual of Planning Standards for Public Services in the Emirate; and
- For industrial investment land – to be allocated in accordance with the standards and requirements approved by the Industrial Investment Land Allocation Committee.
Once it has been determined that a public entity may be allocated governmental land, the Municipality shall issue a site map (Article 9) which shall include information such as identifying the government as the owner of the land, the public entity as beneficiary of the land, the purpose of the allocation, and recognise that the public entity has a period of 5 years from the issuance of the site map, to commence construction. Failure to commence construction works upon the allocated governmental land, or to utilise the usufruct thereon, within 5 years of the site map being issued will result in the Municipality re-taking the allocated governmental land. Different time limits apply to those public entities to whom governmental land was allocated prior to the New Law, where the site map has been issued, but construction has not yet commenced, and the Municipality has the power to amend, redeem or reallocate the allocation in these cases.
Other scenarios in which the Municipality may re-take the allocated governmental land (Article 11) include (i) if the objective of the New Law is no longer valid, (ii) or if the land is required for some other planning, building, land use, and infrastructure regulations within the Emirate, or for public interest, (iii) if the public entity's future plans are subject to change, restructure or dissolution, (iv) if the public entity submits to the Municipality that the land is no longer needed.
There is also a complete prohibition on any form of legal disposition by a public entity of any governmental land that is allocated to it, or any of the structures constructed thereon; an understandable caveat considering the overall objective of the New Law. But, excluded from this, is the ability to lease spaces within any of the constructed buildings that will serve a beneficial purpose towards the public entities' employees, such as food and beverage operators (Article 10).
The New Law has set out its stall with clarity, showing a clear desire to enable implementation of the government's plans with respect to public services in the future. With large-scale shifts on the horizon, an example of which being commercial aviation operations heading south towards Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) in the coming decade, the powers granted by the New Law will provide the government with a degree of flexibility with respect to its public services offering.
