Italy’s trade promotion body CDP has provided a $300m loan for the construction of the Meydan One Mall project that was awarded to Italian contractor Salini Impregilo earlier this year.

The credit line is issued by CDP with Standard Chartered Bank and UBI Banca, and is totally guaranteed by Italian export credit agency Sace, with the interest rate make-up provided by Italy’s Simest.

Meydan Group awarded Salini Impregilo a $435m contract to build the Meydan One Mall in July.

The contract involves prepare the area for development by overseeing the excavations and building of the sub- and super-structures for the complex, including the foundations for a ski slope and the concrete support for the steel structure above the mall.

Construction is scheduled to start by the end of this year and is planned to be finished within 23 months. The first phase of the mall is expected to open in 2020.

The 3.7 square kilometre Meydan One development that includes the mall was launched in August 2015. The development will be home to more than 78,300 residents and feature the 711m-tall Dubai One tower, the Meydan One Mall, a 1.2-kilometre ski slope, a 25,000-square-metre indoor sports arena, a civic plaza large enough to host 60,000 people, a 4km canal and a 100-berth marina.

It will also be connected to the proposed extension to the Green line of Dubai Metro.