The local Bin Hafeez General Contracting has started site levelling works for the AED4bn ($1.1bn) first phase of Waha Land’s Almarkaz development in Abu Dhabi.

The first stage of the first phase includes site leveling and infrastructure works, together with the constriction of 90,000 square meters of light industrial units and residential buildings.

Waha Land says first phase of the project will be completed by the end of 2011. Hazem al-Nowais, chief operating officer of Waha Land said the first phase of construction involves levelling 1.5 million square meters of land by the end of the first quarter of 2010, before infrastructure is installed and plots are handed over to investors at the end of 2010. The investors will then build factories, warehouses and accomodation buildings.

The Almarkaz development covers an area of six square kilometres, and when completed it will have warehouses, light industrial units, and accommodation for 28,000 workers.

Waha Land is the wholly-owned real estate arm of Abu Dhabi-listed Waha Capital.