Nakheel plans to resume work on short term residential projects by the end of October. Construction work is to be remobilized at Al Furjan, Jumeirah Village, Jumeirah Park, Jumeirah Heights Clusters, Veneto, Badhrah, Jumeirah Islands Mansions and International City.

Mr Chris O’Donnell CEO of Nakheel said that there is a substantial amount of work to be completed there, in the order of AED 7 billion to AED 8 billion. That is going to be very positive for the market. These projects aren’t going to be ghost towns but are going to be completed. We have customers lined up and ready to move into these projects as we complete them.

The firm is also planning expansions of its two existing Dubai malls, Dragon Mart and Ibn Battuta, and to expand its retail portfolio with up to 5 malls.

Mr O Donnell said that Dragon Mart has continued to be incredibly successful in this downturn. The physical number of people coming through and actual dirhams spent has increased in the last two years. Ibn Battuta mall is the same.

He said that the new malls, to be launched next year, will be based in existing developments such as Discovery Gardens and Jumeirah Village. The retail centers, which are currently in the design stage, will include supermarkets and specialist retail stores. The key focus is to finish the debt restructuring, get the eight projects back up and running and then the malls will come next year.

Nakheel has suspended a number of mega projects in the wake of the Gulf wide property crash including its ambitious offshore developments Palm Jebel Ali and The Universe. The firm is at the heart of the financial problems suffered by its parent company Dubai World, which last November asked to renegotiate more than USD 24 billion of debt.

Mr O’Donnell said that the Universe, which was launched in 2008, comprises a multi million dollar island development located off Dubai's coastline. The project is unlikely to resume in the foreseeable future.

He said that construction work on Palm Jebel Ali which is around 50% larger than Palm Jumeirah, began in 2002. It is a project that [in the] short term we are not recommencing. Some of the projects like the Universe reclamation that is very much a long, long term project. We definitely are retaining all the designs we have done and whether it will be reused or not who knows.

(Sourced from Arabian Business)