All the contractors that submitted prices for contract 1 are prequalified to bid for the new package. However, contracting sources say that at least two of the previous bidders are unlikely to participate in the new tender.

The local Bu Haleeba Contracting, with South Africa's Grinaker-LTA, is carrying out the first package on the project. Estimated to be worth $65 million, the 16-month contract centres on the construction of a port of entry hotel, which will have 300 rooms and 20 suites, three restaurants, convention and business facilities, retail outlets, and parking. The hotel is scheduled to open in August 2003, a month before Dubai hosts the annual IMF/World Bank meetings (MEED 18:1:02).

Madinat Jumeirah will be the latest in a series of prestigious hotel developments to be built in Dubai. It will be built to the south of the Burj al-Arab and Jumeirah beach complexes, on two adjoining sites known locally as Russian beach and Chicago beach villas. The various components of the development will be linked by a navigable waterway.

The client is Jumeirah International; the project manager is Mirage Leisure & Development of South Africa.