Construction work on the City of Arabia, a $5 billion retail, residential, commercial and entertainment development in Dubai, entered a new phase with the commencement of work on the first three of the high-rise commercial and residential buildings.

City of Arabia will have a phased opening starting towards the end of 2010, beginning with Mall of Arabia, which will have a gross leasable area (GLA) of 10 million sq ft over two phases.

With workers onsite casting approximately 60 pile caps per week on the 20 million sq ft site beside the Emirates Road, the mall is rapidly taking shape.

Construction work is also moving quickly ahead on Wadi Walk, City of Arabia’s vibrant waterfront community characterised by stylish apartments, outdoor cafes and attractive retail outlets set beside a meandering eight kilometre canal.

City of Arabia owners, the Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group, have released a new range of artist’s impressions to illustrate each of its four main elements.

Mall of Arabia will offer more than 1,400 diverse retail outlets, and the first phase is already 89 per cent contracted and reserved. It will also feature a rooftop hotel, waterfront alfresco dining and entertainment for all the family, as well as the remarkable Restless Planet theme park and earth science museum.

Restless Planet will house the world’s largest and most lifelike collection of animatronic dinosaurs, with plans to take visitors 100 million years back in time on a dramatic theme ride into the prehistoric world.

“With each of the four main elements of City of Arabia now reaching important stages, we wanted to give all our stakeholders a detailed picture of what they can expect when the project is completed, and the new images do that perfectly,” said Ilyas Galadari, chairman of Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group.

Mustafa Galadari, the group’s vice chairman and managing director, added: “Construction work is continuing to go full steam ahead, and major visible progress is now particularly evident at Mall of Arabia, which is a very exciting development in its own right.”

City of Arabia, which will become home for 40,000 people, will be a vibrant, self-contained urban community, with business and administrative offices, schools and clinics, supported by luxury apartments, shops, galleries, restaurants and unique attractions. – TradeArabia News Service