Contractors are preparing to submit bids on 15 January for two contracts that are being tendered by Nakheel. The tenders are the latest sign that the local real estate developer is starting to move ahead with new projects after it restructured its debts in 2011.

The first contract involves the construction of 104 villas on the Palm Jumeirah. Nakheel originally planned to build 102 new villas on the island, but in late October last year, Ali Rashid Lootah, chairman, Nakheel, told MEED that two more extra homes had been added to meet the strong demand for property on the island (MEED 21:10:11).

The second tender is for the contract to expand the Dragonmart mall. The expansion involves the construction of a new mall building with a cinema and anchor tenants. The total built-up area is about 158,000 square metres.

In late December, Nakheel said that it had already booked 35 per cent of the space in the expansion.

Contractors also submitted bids on 25 December for another contract at the Dragonmart development. That contract involves the construction of a three-level car parking structure with 1,756 spaces. The building’s roof will be covered by a tensile fabric canopy.

The consultant for the Dragonmart development is Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

These new projects join the work that Nakheel restarted in 2010 and 2011. Last year, South Korea’s Samsung C&T has resumed work on some of the Palm Jebel Ali road bridges in Dubai. The South Korean contractor was awarded an estimated $350m contract to build bridges on the man-made island in 2007, but work on the project was halted in 2009.