Local developer Rak Properties has extended the tender closing date to 25 January, for the the estimated $100m contract to build the Intercontinental Hotel at Mina al-Arab in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.

The developer has delayed the deadline, which had previously been set at 6 January, to give bidders more time to prepare their proposals.

The successful bidder will build a 300-room, low-rise hotel alongside the 13 kilometre-long beach at Mina al-Arab. The hotel includes meeting rooms and business centres, together with restaurants, bars and a swimming pool.

In late December, Rak Properties awarded contracts totalling $109m to three local contractors for the development’s residential district.

The selected contractors, DTC, Al-Tameer and AAA Contracting, will between them build 20 residential blocks with 808 apartments with a total built-up area of 151,000 square metres in the lagoon area of Mina al-Arab.

The overall AED20bn ($5.4bn) Mina al-Arab project is the largest ongoing real estate project in the Northern Emirates. It involves the construction of more than 600 villas, as well as apartment buildings, hotels and other urban amenities on the Gulf coast to the south of Ras al-Khaimah city (MEED 17:12:09).