DM to tender Phase 1 of $9.5bn Desert Rose in 2015

Dubai Municipality ( DM ) plans to tender Phase 1 of its $9.5 billion (Dh35bn) Desert Rose, a smart and sustainable city in Dubai, in a year's time, a senior official from DM told Zawya Projects in an exclusive.

Abdulla Rafia, Assistant Director-General for Engineering and Planning Sector at DM , said, "We are planning to tender Phase 1 of the Desert Rose, a satellite city in a year's time. We will break ground 18 months from now."

"Going by today's [2014] prices, the total cost of the project will be about $9.5bn (Dh35bn)," he disclosed.

The planning and urban development of the city, which would be in the shape of a desert flower, had been approved by the government of Dubai in March this year, according to a statement from DM during the project launch in May 2014.

The project is located south of the Emirates Road towards the Al Lusail desert area, said Rafia.

"We are currently implementing our Dubai Master Plan 2020 and are [already] thinking of renewing our plans to 2030 as far as the urban planning is concerned. The city, which is part of that plan, is our star project at the moment," he said.

"We have already tendered the design works, which include infrastructure, superstructure, and sustainability. It will be done by seven companies," he revealed.

"So far, we have awarded only one contract for infrastructure design. The rest, including superstructure, energy management, facilities, waste management, mobility, and connectivity, are either in tendering or evaluation stage. Within a year, we will award all the remaining design contracts," he said.

"We have already finished the prequalification stage."

He said that the concept master plan was done in-house adding that once all the seven contracts are awarded and designs are in place, they will constitute the integrated master plan for the whole project.

The project with a total area of 14,000 hectares could be developed in four phases, he said.

"Currently, the project will have four phases; it could be more or less [phases]. It is a long-term project and phasing can take up to 10 years," he added.

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