Is Dubai's City of Arabia project still on track?

Much has been made of the Middle East's construction industry in recent months, with many projects being cancelled or delayed, however none are bigger than the City of Arabia project.

This USD$5 billion project aims to create a retail, residential, commercial and entertainment destination that will be the envy of every country in the world. Not just that, but it will be the 'gateway' to Dubailand, an entertainment complex, currently the home of 45 'mega projects' such as Disney's Animal Kingdom, Sahara Kingdom, Six Flags Dubailand and the Marvel Superheroes Theme Park.

Despite adjustments being made to the City of Arabia's plans over the year, the four key parts still remain the same - The Mall of Arabia, one of the world's largest malls; Restless Planet, a US$300 million theme park (complete with 100 animatronic dinosaurs), earth science museum and planetarium; Wadi Walk, a water front community with stylish apartments, outdoor cafes and attractive retail outlets; and Elite Towers, a group of 34 impressive commercial and residential buildings.

In an interview with Cityscape Dubai, Alex Vacha, deputy director for projects at City of Arabia said that 80 percent of homes have already been sold whilst 89 percent of the gross leasable area for phase one of the mall was committed.

"The remaining residential properties and retail space is purposefully being held back and will be released nearer to the opening of the project," he said.

"With a project as large as City of Arabia...some delays in the course of construction are inevitable. However works on all major elements of the project are progressing,"

Commenting on the impact of the global downturn, he said he believed that Dubai was still "a strong option for investors" but added: "Investors are still available but will be more selective in the future. Investors will be looking for quality and will retreat to proven developers and names to try and protect their investments."

When finished, the self contained community with feature its own monorail system which will transport residents and visitors to and from a designated Dubai Metro station and around the site - the city has been specifically designed to minimise the use of cars.

The City of Arabia will have approximately 32,800 residents and a catchment area containing 1.87 million people.

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