Emaar to develop Dubai Harbour hotel and residences

Master development will include 1,400-berth marina and 6,000 passenger cruise liner terminal

Dubai Harbour, which is to be nestled between the Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Beach Residences. Wam

Emaar Properties will build 10 million square feet of new residences and a new Address hotel project as part of Dubai Harbour, the emirate's major new waterfront development unveiled in January.

The developments make up about half of the Dubai Harbour project, to be developed by Meraas Holding, which will include a 1,400-berth marina, a 135 metre-high Dubai Lighthouse, and a 150,000sq ft cruise liner terminal capable of handling 6,000 passengers, Emaar announced on Wednesday.

"With its array of maritime-oriented lifestyle and leisure attractions, Dubai Harbour will be one of the vibrant leisure and tourism hubs of the city," said the Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar.

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"Adding to Emaar's Dubai Real Estate Development business, the residences and hotel project in Dubai Harbour will create significant long-term value for our shareholders."

Emaar did not say when work will begin on the developments and when the first units are likely to be released. The overall Dubai Harbour project will be developed in several phases and is expected to take four years to build once work starts.

“Developments such as Dubai Harbour are central to our efforts to define Dubai as a preferred place to live, work and visit and include several unique features that will create incremental value for the local economy and drive growth in the maritime tourism sector,” said the Meraas group chairman Abdulla Al Habbai.

"We are confident that our collaboration with Emaar will reinforce our mission of creating a world-class destination that appeals to people around the globe."

Dubai Harbour will be built on a site at Mina Seyahi on a plot between Jumeirah Beach Residence and Palm Jumeirah off King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street, integrating the current Skydive Dubai, Dubai International Marine Club and Logo Island sites into a single community through a new road network and a monorail.

The development's 1,400-berth marina will increase the emirate's capacity for handling yachts by almost 50 per cent from the current 3,000.

It will also add the capacity to handle larger yachts of up to 85 metres in length.

Meraas has held talks with four of the world's biggest cruise liner firms with a view to targeting this sector, as well as with Emirates airline.