Dubai to have 'new' city and world's biggest mall

DUBAI. November 25. KAZINFORM Dubai will have a most modern city with a park bigger than London's Hyde Park and a massive Mall of the World that would be capable of receiving 80 million visitors a year.
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The new muti-mega-development, which was announced yesterday by the ruler of Dubai, may be the largest in the country's history. "The current facilities available in Dubai need to be scaled up in line with the future ambitions for the city. Therefore we have to start work immediately on the third phase of development that is aligned to our Vision till 2030 and boost the UAE economy to enable it to enter a new era in which it will become the capital of entrepreneurship, arts, culture, and family tourism for over 2 billion people," Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, said while announcing the establishment of the new city - Mohammed bin Rashid City (MBR City) that focuses on family tourism and entrepreneurship, the Arab News reports.

The new city will be located between Emirates Road, Al Khail Road and Sheikh Zayed Road, and will include Mohammed bin Rashid Gardens Project. It will be connected to Downtown Dubai and Business Bay through a crossing that will be named the Cultural Crossing, which will include art galleries and create the largest area for arts in the region. The MBR city will feature a huge park which will be 30 percent bigger than London's Hyde Park. It will be surrounded by the largest mall in the world called Mall of the World, which will be capable of receiving 80 million visitors a year and include for over 100 hotels and accommodation facilities.

Mall of the World will be connected to a family entertainment center, which will be developed in collaboration with Universal Studios International. This center will be the largest in the region and is expected to attract 6 million visitors each year. The first component focuses on family tourism, and will include a park that is equipped to receive 35 million visitors and the largest family center for leisure and entertainment in the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and region. This center will be set up in collaboration with Universal Studios and include over 100 hotel facilities to meet the needs of visitors from the region.

The second component, focusing on retail, will feature the largest shopping mall in the world. The third component will include the largest area for art galleries in MENA. The fourth one will see the development of a unique area that will provide an integrated environment for entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

Sheikh Mohammed highlighted that the current accelerated growth rates require Dubai to start immediate preparations for the future, because within just six years the number of passengers passing through Dubai airport will cross the 90 million mark. "Our development initiatives concerning infrastructure in all sectors should be aligned with this growth rate and we have the determination to reach our objectives and be the first in the region to achieve them," Sheikh Mohammed said. The tourism sector in Dubai is growing by 13 percent annually; with growth in hotel revenue exceeding 22 percent to reach more than AED 16 billion. The hotel occupancy rate was 82 percent in the year 2011, which was the highest globally, and the number of visitors to Dubai Mall reached 62 million in 2012, with 25 percent growth in retail sales in 2011.

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