Festival City: the latest

All across Dubai, there seems to be another ‘city' development being announced or built.

The idea is to create a series of small, self-contained communities where people will live, work, shop and play.

And as anyone who was caught in the traffic gridlock which engulfed the city this week will testify, the plan is crucial to the development of Dubai as a thriving, modern metropolis.

One of the most high-profile of these projects is the Dubai Festival City, located on Dubai Creek.

Its location, at a prime waterfront spot and close to the hub of the city, means that it becoming a viable community is pivotal to the success of the city.

The US $5 billion (AED 18.4 billion) project is being developed by the Al Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE).

It has almost been a year since Construction Week last visited the site and in that time it has seen a huge amount of progress.

Despite the project only being a third complete, the scheme has already captured the public's imagination.

Thousands of shoppers use the completed Festival Power Centre shopping centre to get their hands on cheap, flat-pack furniture at Ikea or visit the world's largest Marks & Spencer outside of the UK.

The Marsa Plaza and Intercontinental & Crowne Plaza hotels are open for business; boat owners are mooring their vessels at the Festival Marina; golfers are playing a leisurely 18 holes at the Al Badia Golf Course; and youngsters are being educated at the two onsite schools.

And despite being affected by labour shortages and rising costs of materials, managers of the project insist it is still on schedule.

At present, the site still partly resembles a building site, with huge tracts of land given over to teams of construction workers.

But the project is moving forward at great pace, with the desert area rapidly becoming something which resembles a livable community.

Still, some of the major projects are yet to get under way and the project will not be fully finished until 2020.

This year, the Dubai Festival City Office Park business centre and the Dubai Gold Marketplace are due to open.

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