Dubai Holding on Wednesday announced that it has taken the decision to relocate Mall of the World to a site on Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road.
The state-run company said it remained committed to the project which was first announced in mid-2014 and will become the world’s biggest shopping mall.
Ahmad Bin Byat, vice chairman and managing director of Dubai Holding, said the move would allow the project’s positive tourism contribution to be “fully realised”, without giving further details.
He added: “Tourism remains a major part of Dubai’s diversification strategy and Mall of the World will be a critical part of that vision. Dubai Holding is committed to developing Mall of the World, a major retail and leisure destination in the region, and believes that the new location on Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road, will be an outstanding home for the project, as it will allow Dubai Holding to further expand as needed it in the future according to market needs.”
He said Mall of the World will now undergo extensive planning to become a major retail and leisure destination.
The original Mall of the World project encompasses 8 million square feet (745,000 square metre) of shopping space connected to a theme park, 100 hotels and serviced apartment buildings with 20,000 rooms. It is not clear whether the project will be downsized.
In February, Dubai said it would press ahead with plans to build the mega mall despite an economic slowdown looming in the region, but would assess market demand before proceeding with the project’s later stages.
The first phase – representing about a quarter of the project’s size – is scheduled be completed before Dubai hosts the Expo 2020 exhibition.
Plans for the remainder “will be dependent on market dynamics”, Byat has previously said, adding that the total bill would be nearly AED80 billion ($22 billion).
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