UAE based developer Emaar Properties has invited companies to submit bids for the contract to build a Hilton hotel at its Dead Sea resort in Jordan.

Contractors have until 18 April to submit bids for the main construction package.

The proposed 285-room hotel will be built on the east coast of Jordan overlooking the Dead Sea. It will be located next to the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre. The hotel is scheduled to be opened in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The resort will also contain seven food and beverage outlets, which will include three restaurants and four bars. The leisure facilities will include a health club, spa, outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts. The hotel will include two 100-square-metre meeting rooms and a business centre.

The Dead Sea resort is one of a number of tourism projects under way in Jordan.

The US-based Hill International has been awarded a $3.2m contract to provide project management services on the first phase of the $10bn Marsa Zayed development in Aqaba.

The project management firm was awarded the four-year contract by the Al-Maabar Aqaba Real Estate Company on 11 April.

The Marsa Zayed will be the largest real-estate project ever completed in Jordan and will completed in two phases.

The first phase of the project includes developing a 300,000-sq m site, which comprises a 33-storey mixed-use tower, a social gathering space for 2,000 people, 146 townhouses, 263 apartments, the first of three marinas and associated infrastructure.

The second phase includes developing the final 1.2 million sq m and will not commence until the land around Aqaba Port is handed over to Al-Maabar in 2017. The estimated completion date for the entire Marsa Zayed project is 2035.

Al-Maabar was established in 2007 as a joint venture between six Abu Dhabi-based real estate companies: Mubadala, Aldar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate, Reem Investments, Reem International and Al-Qudra Holdings (MEED 25:9:08).