Tendering for the second package of Dubai Convention Centre, comprising the office tower and podium, is currently under way, with the contract to be awarded in six weeks, said Ibrahim Belselah, coordinator general of the Dubai 2003 IMF-World Bank Conference.

The contract will be worth around Dh160 million ($43.5 million).

"The third package, worth around Dh120 million for equipment supply, will be awarded mid-2002," he added.

The office tower will include some 955 small offices aimed at enabling World Bank officials to hold their internal meetings.

The entire project is due for completion by January , 2003, in time for Dubai 2003, which the convention centre will host.

Presenting a detailed pictorial layout of the centre, Brian Emery, senior architect with RMJM, said the overall project coming up alongside the existing Dubai World Trade Centre exhibition halls, would comprise a business hotel, a four-star hotel, a multi-storey car-park, an eight-hall facility, a vast multi-purpose hall capable of holding 6,000 people, a 240 by 28 by 40 m concourse, the podium, and the office tower.

"The multi-purpose hall will form the heart of main activity, with an acoustic enclosure measuring 71 by 13 by 30 m, providing an imposing amphitheatre effect," he said. "While it will hold 4,500 delegates on both the floor as well as the retractable seats, in total it can house 6,000."

He said internal fixtures would have a permanent look but could actually be folded away, and that the entire complex would combine traditional Arabic motifs and designs - to give it "its own identity" - with a modern, state-of-the-art look.

A contract worth Dh240.43 million was recently awarded to Khansaheb Civil Engineering for building the 6,000-seater convention centre. It will have 25 meeting rooms, in varying capacity from 20 to 800 persons and the total floor area will be 8,100 sq m.

A total of about Dh1 billion has been earmarked towards raising the infrastructure needs for Dubai 2003.