Local property developer Nakheel plans to start construction work on three more retail developments next year.

“We will be going ahead in the first quarter next year with our retail projects, the Palm mall, the Pointe, and also Ibn Batutta expansion,” says Nakheel chairman, Ali Rashid Lootah.

Nakheel appointed Singapore’s RSP for the design of the Palm Mall retail complex in April. Design work for the 160,000-square-metre shopping centre is due to finish by the end of this year, with construction starting early in 2013. Completion is expected in 2014.

RSP was the consultant on the project when it was originally planned in 2008. South Korea’s Samsung C&T was awarded the contract to build the mall, but it was cancelled in 2009 following the slump in real estate prices in Dubai and the rest of the UAE.

The Pointe will be built on the tip of the fronds across the from the Atlantis hotel. The 136,000-sq-m development will have waterfront shops and restaurants. The consultant is Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

The Ibn Batutta expansion was originally planned in 2008. The architect then was US-based Carter & Burgess.

Nakheel has awarded a number of retail construction contracts this year. The largest contract, worth an estimated AED600m ($163m), was awarded to the local Kele Contracting for the expansion of Dragon Mart. The work involves building a 177,000 sq m retail hub that will be completed in the third quarter of 2013.

Nakheel also signed a contract to build a retail centre at its Jumeirah Park development. The local Parkway International Contracting won the AED27.5m deal that involves building a10,600 sq m community centre that will serve 4,200 homes in Jumeirah Islands, Jumeirah Village Triangle and Jumeirah Park. Construction is expected to be completed in mid-2013.

United Engineering Construction (UNEC) was also selected for the construction of the new retail mall. Two other contracts have been awarded to Kele for the construction of a 240-room Dragon Mart Hotel and a multi-storey car park for 2,000 vehicles.