Dubai is to get a Dh3 billion ($816 million) downtown multipurpose centre that will be sited over an area extending from the heart of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone to The Palm Island.
Plans for Dubai Pearl were announced last month by the developer Omnix Group and the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone.
"Dubai Pearl is a new downtown concept which has everything needed for a self-contained community," says Omnix chairman Jamal Abu Issa. "With cultural and heritage centres to hotels, conference halls and trade centres, Dubai Pearl accommodates a complete micro-urban environment."
Omnix Group says the project will culminate in the creation of a futuristic city that will offer conference, business, leisure and residential requirements.
Work on the project is expected to be completed in May 2006.
Ahmed Bin Byat, director general of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone says: "This is yet another example of how the public and private sectors in Dubai work together in harmony."
Dubai Pearl will include an opera house and a theatre. The opera house, with a capacity of around 1,800 seats, will be the biggest in the region. Visiting business people and tourists will have a choice of more than 1,500 rooms in a five-star and two four-star hotels. The 240-m-high, 720-room five-star hotel will be managed by the Movenpick Group.
There will also be more than 2,000 residential units offering apartments to suit a wide range of budgets. All residential units will be plugged into a broadband network. Every apartment will have views of 'New Dubai', including The Palm.
More than 1.2 million sq ft of commercial property will also be incorporated into the design. When completed, the project will have more than one million sq ft of shops, restaurants and promenades.
A technology centre, the Pearl Techno World, will be a retail hub for IT, telephony, digital photography, multi-media, communication and audio-visual products.
Dubai Pearl is expected to accommodate up to 12,000 people at any given time and be visited on a daily basis by no less than 25,000 people.
A road scheme developed in coordination with the Free Zone will allow easy access from the Sheikh Zayed Highway and free flow of traffic within the community. Parking space is also being created to accommodate more than 13,000 vehicles.
