Plans are being drawn up for a shopping mall on Nakheel’s Palm Deira that will be ‘among the biggest in Dubai’.
The concept for the mall is yet to be formally approved, according to Abdulla bin Sulayem, operations director, The Palm Deira, Nakheel.
If approved, the construction contract will be put to tender later in the year, with work expected to get under way in the last quarter.
Sulayem declined to disclose details of the project’s size and value.
“It will be among the biggest malls, but we won’t be able to confirm the size and value until the concept has been approved,” he said.
The mall will form a focal part of the Palm Deira, which will be the largest of the Palm trilogy when completed.
Around 30% of reclamation work has been completed, along with a large amount of the rockworks.
The masterplan for the development was redesigned last year to take into account infrastructure.
Besix was awarded a contract to build the first bridge connecting the island to Dubai’s shoreline, while two further bridge contracts will be awarded over the next couple of months.
Nine substations are currently under construction.
“We changed the masterplan because we had to make the project work from an infrastructure point of view,” said Saluyem.
“So we worked with the RTA on road and bridge development. We’re fastracking on the bridges connecting the island with Deira, and two more will begin construction this quarter.
The first phase of construction of the Palm Deira focuses on two islands – North Island and Deira Island.
“We believe that this phase will be completed in the next five years,” added Saluyem.
All reclamation work on the development has been earmarked for completion by 2013.
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