Dubai-based developer Majid al-Futtaim (MAF) has invited selected companies to bid by 26 June for the contract to build its Al-Zahia mall development in Sharjah.

The contractors that have been invited include:

• Al-Naboodah Contracting Company (local) / Laing O’Rourke (UK)
• Arabian Construction Company (Lebanon)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC)
• Habtoor Leighton Group (local/Australia)
• Khansaheb Civil Engineering (local)
• Murray & Roberts (South Africa) / Shapoorji Pallonji (India)
• Six Construct (Belgium)

The 30-month deal involves building a three-level mall, known as Al-Zahia City Centre, on a 183,505-square-metre plot, with space for 400 shops.

The retail area, which will include anchor tenants and department stores, also includes entertainment areas, food courts and restaurants. The total built-up area will be 248,300 sq m.

The work will also involve building a three-level car park with a total built-up area of 135,000 sq m and spaces for 5,200 cars. The structure will be connected to the mall with pedestrian bridges.

Infrastructure works include internal roads, landscaping and utility connections.

The utilities serving the mall will be a 33kV substation and a sewage treatment plant, which will be completed by the contractor on a design-and-build basis.

Flyovers directly connecting to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road in both directions are also planned, and are not included in the mall construction contract.

Al-Zahia is a gated residential community being developed by a joint venture of MAF and the Sharjah government.

MAF is developing shopping malls across the region. In January, it awarded a joint venture of CCC and the local Hassan Allam Construction the contract to build the City Centre Almaza shopping mall on the outskirts of Cairo.

The £E4bn ($510m) development will be built in Heliopolis on the northeastern quadrant of the junction between the Cairo-Suez Road and Nasr Road.

It will have 103,455 sq m of retail space, with a 13,040-sq-m Carrefour supermarket, a food court, a 16-screen Vox cinema, a 1,800-sq-m Magic Planet family entertainment centre and 4,000 parking spaces.