Accessibility links

Breaking News

Dubai Advances World’s Biggest Mall Project


FILE - Customers dine at Armani Caffe in Dubai Mall in June 2012. A planned ‘Mall of the World’ there would be the largest to date.
FILE - Customers dine at Armani Caffe in Dubai Mall in June 2012. A planned ‘Mall of the World’ there would be the largest to date.

Dubai is launching a project to build an entertainment and hotel district that will include the world's largest shopping mall, the emirate's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said Saturday.

Plans for the “Mall of the World” project were originally revealed 18 months ago, helping to trigger a strong rally in Dubai's real estate and stock markets.

Saturday's announcement appeared to indicate that substantial work on the project would begin, though the statement did not say when construction would be completed, how much it would cost or how it would be financed.

“The project will be built in phases in alignment with the gradual growth of family tourism in Dubai,” said Mohammed Abdullah al-Gergawi, chairman of Dubai Holding, which is Sheik Mohammed's personal investment vehicle and will develop the project.

Massive undertaking

The latest plans includes construction of a mall with 743,000 square meeters, or 8 million square feet, connected to a theme park, theaters, medical tourism facilities and 100 hotels and serviced apartment buildings with 20,000 rooms.

The complex would be able to host 180 million visitors annually. Seven kilometers, or 4.4 miles, of promenades connecting the facilities would be opened to the air during the winter but covered and air-conditioned during the hot Gulf summer.

Dubai is still recovering from its 2009 debt crisis The International Monetary Fund has warned that a slew of new real estate projects could lead to another boom-bust cycle.

But officials say they can handle the risks, and a strong economy is helping Dubai's government-linked firms restructure their debt.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG