Dubai has announced the establishment of a new multi-billion dollar tourism-retail hub within Dubai, setting new benchmarks in urban development in the region.
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the project, comprising four key components, will feature world class leisure facilities and provide an integrated environment for the development of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The new city will be called Mohammed Bin Rashid City.
"The current facilities available in Dubai need to be scaled up in line with the future ambitions for the city.
Therefore we have to start work immediately on the third phase of development that is aligned to our Vision till 2030 and boost the UAE economy to enable it to enter a new era in which it will become the capital of entrepreneurship, arts, culture, and family tourism for over 2 billion people," Sheikh Mohammed said.
The first component will focus on family tourism, and will include a giant park, equipped to receive 35 million visitors and a family entertainment centre set up in collaboration with Universal Studios and hotel facilities.
The second component, focusing on retail, will feature the largest shopping mall in the world called Mall of the World. Dubai already boasts the largest mall in the world, Emaar’s The Dubai Mall.
A third component will include the largest area for arts galleries in Middle East and North Africa while the fourth fourth component will see the development of facilities to provide an integrated environment for entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.
The new city will include residential areas built on green building standards in terms of energy consumption, waste treatment and conservation of natural environment.
It will also feature a number of golf courses under well-known international names.