Dancing fountains for Dubai's The Palm as Dh3.3bn plans approved

The Nakheel Mall and The Pointe leisure scheme of shops and restaurants for The Palm have been given the go ahead from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.

How The Pointe will look on Dubai's The Palm when completed. Picture courtesy of Nakheel

Dubai based developer Nakheel is set to start work on two long awaited shopping and leisure schemes on the Palm Jumeirah after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid gave them the go ahead.

The UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai announced yesterday on his website that he had ordered the developer to start work on shops and cafe developments on the Palm worth a total of Dh3.3 billion.

Nakheel's long awaited 1 million square metre Nakheel Mall on the trunk of the Palm will cost around Dh2.5 billion and is set to start work imminently. It will also comprise a 200 room hotel, 200 serviced apartments and a restaurant.

Nakheel did not say exactly where the new mall would be located but property experts expect it to be situated in the middle of the Palm at the location previously set aside for the now shelved Trump Tower.

The developer is also set to start work on its 136,000 square metre The Pointe project, overlooking the Jumeirah Beach hotel and the Atlantis resort at a cost of Dh 800 million. It will include shops, restaurants and computerised dancing fountains and will be linked to the Metro.

According to his website, Sheikh Mohammed expressed his satisfaction with the engineering designs and "instructed the addition of new attractive elements to woo tourists and investors from around the world."

Nakheel has been planning to start work on both schemes for some time. Last January the developer announced it was in talks with banks to raise at least Dh300 million to build an initial phase of Pointe.However, construction work on the project has so far failed to begin as Nakheel has concentrated on repaying its debts arising from the 2009 Dubai World crisis.

At the time Ali Rashed Lootah, Nakheel's chairman told The National: "There are currently about 30,000 residents on the Palm, which does not include all of the tourists that also visit. It's a destination that is hungry for retail facilities,"

"[The Pointe] is unique in concept and unique in location and design," he added.

Nakheel, which after the 2009 crisis is owned by the Dubai Financial Support Fund, which was set up to distribute $20bn of investment from Abu Dhabi and the Central Bank was unavailable to comment.

Another Dh3.3 billion worth of shopping and leisure are heading for Dubai's The Palm after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai gave the go ahead for two major Nakheel developments.

He ordered that the necessary measures to be taken to commence the implementation of The Nakheel Mall project on the beachfront at the bottom of the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai at a cost of Dh 2.5 billion.

Sheikh Mohammed also ordered the commencement of The Pointe project, overlooking the Jumeirah Beach hotel and the Atlantis resort at a cost of Dh800million.

Ali Rashid Lootah, the Chairman of Nakheel, briefed Sheikh Mohammed about components of The Nakheel Mall, which stretches over a land area of 1 million square feet, and The Pointe project. This 136,000 square metre development will be home to shops, restaurants and computerised dancing fountains and will be linked to the Metro.

Sheikh Mohammed expressed his satisfaction with the engineering designs and instructed the addition of new attractive elements to woo tourists and investors from around the world.

He said "We want Dubai to be on top in all of its projects because excellence remains forever."