Dubai's Nakheel cuts 500 jobs as global crisis hits

DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai government-owned Nakheel, developer of the Gulf trade hub's man-made palm islands, said on Sunday it had cut 500 jobs or 15 percent of its workforce as it scales back projects amid the global financial crisis.

"We have the responsibility to adjust our short term business plans to accommodate the current global environment," it said in a statement quoting a spokesperson.

"The redundancies are indeed regrettable, but a necessity dictated by operational requirements which are in turn dependent on demand."

Nakheel said earlier his month it was witnessing a slowdown in the rate of real estate sales. Last month it said it had scaled back dredging work on its massive Palm Deira project, the largest of three palm-shaped islands that was planned to house 1 million people.