Dubai-based Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group (IMG Group) has announced progress on the construction of its Worlds of Adventure theme park situated within the City of Arabia development in the emirate.

The company said a megaframe and dome with structural columns has been erected for the park, which is located on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road (formerly Emirates Road) in Dubai.

Offsite ride manufacturing in various sites is also under way and shipments are expected to be shipped to the UAE later this year.

IMG Worlds of Adventure will have four zones including Marvel, Cartoon Network, Lost Valley and the IMG Entertainment Zone. The park will be in excess of 1.2 million square feet in its first stage and will be the largest temperature controlled indoor entertainment destination in The World.

Dubai has wanted to develop theme parks for more than a decade. In 1998, it was planning to develop a major theme park along the shores of Dubai Creek at what is now Dubai Festival City. That project, known as Magic World, was later abandoned and replaced by an even more ambitious scheme inland of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road known as Dubailand. After a slow start, that project stalled in 2008.

In May of this year, local developer Meraas invited contractors to express interest in working on its theme park project in Dubai. Known as the Jebel Ali Themed Entertainment Development, the project was launched by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in November last year as part of a AED10bn ($2.72bn) plan to develop five separate theme parks in the Jebel Ali area to help promote tourism in the emirate.

The theme parks include: Dubai Adventure Studios, a water and marine life park, a Bollywood park, a children’s theme park and a night safari park. On launch, the first component of the development of this destination is expected to be completed by 2014.

Dubai is also planning to build Mohammed bin Rashid City, a project that will contain a Universal Studios theme park together with more than 100 hotels. Located between Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Al-Khail Road and Sheikh Zayed Road, the scheme will be developed by local Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties.