The local Arabtec Construction has started mobilising for the estimated AED300m ($82m) contract to build a five-star hotel in the Dubai Internet City area.

Tendered earlier this year, the project is located next to the petrol station being renovated on Sheikh Zayed Road and will have about 235 rooms and a built-up area of about 42,000 square metres.

The consultancies working on the scheme include South Africa’s MLC and Canada’s Mirage Consulting.

Bahrain’s Thalia Real Estate is the client.

The site was previously earmarked for a much larger development by US-based Capital Partners in 2005. The project, known as River Walk, would have comprised more than 450,000 sq m of built-up office, retail and housing space, with 1,700 planned residential units.