Dubai unveils mega mall and garden project

DUBAI'S ruler has announced plans for a development boasting the world's biggest shopping mall and gardens larger than London's Hyde Park, as the emirate revives property projects on hold since the global financial crisis.

Emaar Properties PJSC, the United Arab Emirates' largest developer by market value, and Dubai Holding LLC will together build a district called "Mohammed Bin Rashid City," named after the Persian Gulf emirate's ruler. The project near central Dubai is to include 100 hotels, residential areas and green spaces 30 percent bigger than Hyde Park, according to a statement.

Dubai already has bragging rights to the biggest emporium by total area, Dubai Mall, which sprawls opposite the planet's tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa. Between these two Emaar structures is a man-made lake where the world's largest dancing fountain shoots water 50 stories high.

Dubai, seeking to stimulate its economy, wants to resume several projects that halted after the global credit crunch drove down property values by 65 percent and caused companies to suspend construction of hundreds of developments. Builders in the UAE have aborted about US$757 billion of projects since the crisis, Citigroup said in a report last month.

Meydan City Corp, which built a 60,000-seat horse racing stadium and hotel complex in Dubai, has said it would revive plans for two projects.

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