Local developer Nakheel, which restructured billions of dollars of debt in 2010, has approved the award of the consultancy contract for a new mall on the Palm Jumeriah to Singapore’s RSP.

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 that contract was cancelled in 2009 following the slump in real estate prices in Dubai and the rest of the UAE.

Located on the man-made island’s trunk, the scheme is expected to be more modest than the original design that was known as the Village Centre. Then it involved the construction of a four-storey retail centre with two, 42-storey residential towers. It would also have had 120,000 square metres of retail space and 150,000 square metres of residential space.

Nakheel is starting to move ahead with several new projects on the Palm Jumeriah. On 11 April it appointed a contractor for its first new development project since Dubai’s property market crashed in late 2008. The local Dubai Civil Engineering (DCE) signed a AED194m ($53m) contract to build the Palma Residences. The developer is also planning to tender a new development known as the Pointe in the middle of this year. The project involves building 136,000 square metres of shops, and restaurants.