Abu
Dhabi’s media zone may miss its scheduled completion date of 2014 after plans
to build the tax-free media hub in the capital’s Mina Zayed area fell through,
Arabian Business has learned.
Consultants
on the state-funded project said developers are still struggling to find a
suitable location for the bespoke media zone, currently housed in a temporary
campus near Khalifa Park.
Initial
plans to build the campus in the waterfront Mina Zayed site were scrapped in
November after the area was deemed unfeasible.
“[The
project] has been delayed quite significantly,” said Kevin Mitchell, UAE director
of Buro Happold, the engineering consultants on the project. “We’re currently
working with the architect and client to assess different sites for the
facility.”
Twofour54,
the company behind the zone, declined to comment on whether the completion date
for the project would be pushed back.
The
original plan for the permanent, 6.5 million sq ft zone, unveiled in April
2010, was to include studios, post-production facilities and a training
academy. Buildings in the project were to resemble television sets set at
45-degree angles to the streets.
The
waterfront development was expected to house 12,000 employees on its completion.
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