Investors in Hydra Village are meeting Sulaiman al Fahim, the chairman of the developer Hydra Properties,Wednesday in an attempt to settle a long-running dispute over construction delays, payments and price rises.

The stakes have been raised in the past few days as defaulting investors have been told their contracts will be cancelled and all deposits will be kept by the developer unless outstanding dues are settled.

This is on top of buyers receiving calls or e-mails telling them that if they failed to meet a deadline for their payment they would be fined Dh500 (US$136) a day, despite Hydra saying last month that the penalty for late payment had been cut to Dh100.

One investor said: 'We just got a call saying if we don’t pay another 50% straight away, they’ll cancel the entire contract.'

The National