Dubai's Nakheel Properties on Friday said work on Palm Deira is ongoing as planned denying reports that it had scaled back dredging work on the project over the global financial crisis.

'The focus of our activity is currently being directed at reclamation works in areas closest to the shore. Once this is complete we will start progressive land sales and development,' it said, according to a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

'This is in line with Nakheel's business model, and is a very responsible approach in line with current global economic conditions,' it added.

Earlier, MEED quoted a source close to the project as saying that dredging contractors working on the world's largest man-made island had been told to stop work.

Instead of working on new sections of the island, MEED said that state-owned Nakheel is concentrating on completing the sections of the development closest to the shore that can be completed and sold in the near future.

As credit conditions worsen, speculation has grown that GCC developers will need to scuttle or postpone projects slowing down a booming property sector.

Nakheel, developer of three palm-shaped islands off Dubai's coast, said earlier this month that it had no need for external financing until 2010 but may scale back its huge land reclamation projects to curb costs and protect profits. - TradeArabia News Service