Dubai launches new tourism megaproject

27 November 2012

The Mohammed Bin Rashid City megaproject will be located between Emirates Road, Al Khail Road and Sheikh Zayed Road

Dubai is planning to build a new tourism megaproject that will house the largest shopping mall in the world and more than 100 hotels.

Mohammed bin Rashid City will be located between Emirates Road, Al-Khail Road and Sheikh Zayed Road.

The megaproject will contain four key components, all aimed at boosting Dubai’s tourism sector, which contributed 31 per cent of the emirate’s total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011. The proposed scheme will be developed by the local Dubai Holding and Emaar properties.

The development will include a leisure precinct able to accomodate 35 million visitors a year and will contain a Universal Studios theme park. It will be the largest leisure centre in the Middle East and will feature more than 100 hotels.

The city will also contain the Mall of the World, which will be the largest shopping mall in the world and will have a capacity to handle 80 million visitors a year. Mohammed bin Rashid City will be connected to the Downtown Dubai and Business Bay areas by a crossing, scheduled to be named the Cultural Crossing, which will include art galleries and create the largest area for arts in the region.

The development is the largest of several new major real estate schemes that have been made public in Dubai in 2012. In March, Emaar announced plans to build a cultural district next to its Burj Khalifa development in the Downtown Dubai area. The cultural area will contain a modern art museum, an opera house and other cultural facilities. The Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District will also contain two hotels, studios and leisure facilities.

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