UAE's Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Properties is planning an $817 million shopping mall and office project in Syria, as it seeks new markets in the Middle East and North Africa.

The firm, famous for building an indoor ski slope in Dubai, and which typically enters markets with French retailer Carrefour as anchor tenant of its malls, will fund the project with its own financing and with banks in Syria, its chief executive said.

'It will be a 3 billion UAE dirhams ($816.8 million) project, 1 million square metres of land, and will have a mall, hotels and office buildings,' MAF chief executive Peter Walichnowski told Reuters on the sidelines of its 430-store Mirdif City Centre opening in Dubai.   

Walichnowski said MAF, which is owned by UAE's billionaire businessman Majid Al-Futtaim, is in talks to build large malls in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The company has 10 operating malls in the Middle East and North Africa and plans to more than double its portfolio by 2015 with 14 new projects in the UAE, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Walichnowski said the company's malls have shown resilience to the global economic crisis and did not see a significant drop in sales in 2009.   

'We'll see more positive sentiment building up this year,' he said.

Dubai's retail sales in 2009 are estimated to have dropped up to 30 percent across the emirate. However, no official retail data is available. -Reuters