Dubai plans to build a new district for 20 billion dollars

Dubai - Dubai is planning a new hotel and residential district on the site where the world's largest shopping mall was originally intended to be built. The Jumeirah Central project is expected to cost $20 billion (484 billion CZK), announced Dubai Holding on Sunday, which is the investment vehicle of the Dubai ruler. The new plans signal, according to Reuters, that the emirate intends to continue its rapid construction expansion despite the adverse effects of low oil prices on the entire region.

Project representatives stated that construction will be gradual and will respond to market demand. The first phase of the project is set to cost $6.5 billion and will include 2800 hotel rooms and 3000 apartments. Timelines have not yet been established, and financing agreements have not yet been finalized.

The land for the new district was originally reserved for the world's largest shopping mall project called Mall of the World. The shopping zone was to span 743,000 square meters and be connected by seven kilometers of promenades featuring an amusement park, cinemas, a hundred hotels, and other accommodation facilities. The project was announced in mid-2014, just as the sharp decline in oil prices began. Dubai Holding announced last week that it would relocate the Mall of the World project, but company officials did not respond to questions about its fate.

Dubai has not yet fully recovered from the debt crisis it faced seven years ago after the real estate market collapsed. Thanks to tourism and a strong business services sector, Dubai's economy is faring better than neighboring countries during this period of low oil prices, but property prices there began to decline again last year, and some new projects were halted or canceled.