Construction of Aviation City, the next phase of the $33bn Dubai World Central (DWC) development, will begin by the end of July.

Rashed Buqara’a, chief operating officer of DWC, says it is currently looking at the bids and is close to selecting a contractor to carry out the project. Financing is in place and construction is scheduled to start “within the next two months”, says Buqara’a.

“Aviation City will be fully financed by Dubai government,” he adds.

In August 2010, Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation said it was in talks with local banks over how to finance Aviation City (MEED 5:8:10).

Aviation City will be a maintenance, repair and overhaul centre.

Dubai has already invested $4.6bn in Dubai World Central so far, which has gone towards the construction of the airport, infrastructure on the south side of the airport, the runway, control towers and the Logistics City development.

The passenger terminal at Al-Maktoum International airport is now due to open in 2012, rather than March 2011 as initially planned. By 2030, it will be the largest airport in the world with five runways, four terminals and an annual capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.

The first phase of the airport opened for cargo operations on 1 July 2010.