PLANS are under way for the start of construction on the $1.8 billion Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) project.

Infrastructure work (roads, lighting, pipes and drainage) at the 4.1 million sq ft site near the Grand Hyatt Hotel and the Dubai Creek is expected to start next month, according to DHCC officials. This work will be completed within nine months.

A highly ambitious project even by Dubai's impressive standards, DHCC will have three main elements. A University Medical Complex (comprising a 300-bed University Hospital, a postgraduate Medical School and a Life Science Research Centre) will be at the core of the project.

A Medical Cluster will, meanwhile, comprise outpatient day clinics, pharmaceuticals and equipment, private hospitals, a transplant centre, a rehabilitation centre and a diagnostic centre. Thirdly, a Wellness Cluster will offer sports medicine, nutrition and a health farm, as well as see the development of spas and rehabilitation facilities. The city will also incorporate a five-star hotel and shopping facilities.

Combined, the facilities at DHCC will ultimately provide services including cardiology, oncology and diabetes, as well as preventive and other health maintenance services.

A two-year construction phase for the University Hospital and Medical College is expected to start by next March, while construction of the out-patient and diagnostic clinics - which are being offered on both a freehold and leasehold basis - will start this July, for completion within nine months.

The first phase of DHCC, including full integration and opening of the University Hospital and Medical College, will be completed by June 2006, says DHCC.

Seventy per cent of the leased space at healthcare city has already been booked - even before the foundations have been laid, according to DHCC.

The project is said to be the single largest healthcare project in the world today.

''This is the most successful government project I have worked on to date,'' says Saeed Al Muntafiq, the director general of the Dubai Development and Investment Authority (DDIA) and a man who has already been responsible for the development and initial success of the Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City projects.

As with many of Dubai's most significant projects, DHCC is a vision of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, UAE Defence Minister and president of the DDIA.

''Sheikh Mohammed is visionary, but he backs this up with ruthless execution," says Al Muntafiq. ''Projects are developed on schedule and within budget, creating credibility and a successful track record. Investors sit up and take notice.''