Development on Nakheel's The World islands, one of the assets the troubled state-linked developer may look to sell amid a debt crunch, is slated to begin within months, according to a newspaper report on Thursday.

Nakheel's parent company, Dubai World has asked creditors for a standstill on $26 billion in debt, including $6 billion related to its property units, Nakheel and Limitless.

Dubai repaid Nakheel's $4.1 billion Islamic bond earlier this week after receiving a $10 billion lifeline from neighbouring emirate, Abu Dhabi.

The National newspaper, based in Abu Dhabi, quoted a Nakheel spokeswoman as saying that about 70 per cent of the 300 islands have been sold on the man-made archipelago shaped like a map of the world.

'We anticipate that several developers will be ready to start construction on their islands in the coming months,' the spokeswoman told the newspaper.

'Thirty-three islands have been handed over to developers in the past year and they have been working to obtain the necessary permits and design and planning approvals,' she added.-Reuters