Nakheel awards contracts for Deira Island project

Dubai developer Nakheel said on Saturday it has awarded contracts for design and supervision services on Deira Islands including the Night Market and Board Walk projects.

The master developer said it has already witnessed great interest in the project when it released its first phase of plots end of March 2014 - ranging from 50,000 to 670,000 square feet - for hotel and resort development on two of the four islands that make up the project.

The two islands will ultimately add over 23,000 hotel keys and 31,000 apartment keys to Dubai's hospitality and residential landscape.

Nakheel said in a statement that it has appointed AE7 for the design and supervision services including master planning and infrastructure design for Deira Islands, its new, 15.3 square kilometre waterfront city, under a contract worth AED28 million (US $7.6 million).

The same firm was also awarded another contract worth AED19.5 million (US $5.3 million) covering architectural and engineering services for the Night market and Board Walk, two main attractions on the 4.5 Million square metres south island.

The company said the creekside destination will be easily accessible from the mainland by road bridges and abras. The island's other attractions will include a large shopping mall, an amphitheatre for 30,000 people and a marina that can accommodate large yachts.

Tender documents for the construction of infrastructure are expected to be released around the middle of May, following which companies will be invited to collect, Nakheel added.

Deira Islands, which will add 40km - including 21km of beachfront - to Dubai's coastline is expected to contribute significantly to the Government of Dubai's tourism vision.