DUBAI, July 5 Dubai is launching a project to build an entertainment and hotel district that will include the world's largest shopping mall, the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said on Saturday. 
 
 Plans for the "Mall of the World" project were originally revealed 18 months ago, helping to trigger a strong rally in Dubai's real estate and stock markets. 
 
 Saturday's announcement appeared to indicate that substantial work on the project would now begin, though the statement did not say when construction would be completed, how much it would cost or how it would be financed. 
 
 "The project will be built in phases in alignment with the gradual growth of family tourism in Dubai," said Mohammed Abdullah al-Gergawi, chairman of Dubai Holding, which is Sheikh Mohammed's personal investment vehicle and will develop the project. 
 
 The latest version of the plans includes construction of an 8 million square foot (743,000 square metre) mall, connected to a theme park, theatres, medical tourism facilities and 100 hotels and serviced apartment buildings with 20,000 rooms. 
 
 The complex would be able to host 180 million visitors annually. Seven kilometres (4.4 miles) of promenades connecting the facilities would be opened to the air during the winter but covered and air-conditioned during the hot Gulf summer. 
 
 Dubai is still recovering from its 2009 debt crisis and the International Monetary Fund has warned a slew of new real estate projects could lead to another boom-bust cycle. But officials say they are able to handle the risks, and a strong economy is helping Dubai's government-linked firms restructure their debt. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Stephen Powell) ||||| Watch: Dubai launches Mall of the World plan 
 
 Dubai: Dubai is bundling a lot of “world firsts” for the Mall of the World development – its most ambitious project since the emirate’s economic revival began in earnest since early 2012. 
 
 The project is to be the retail and hospitality showpiece development for the Expo 2020 in Dubai, alongside the planned mega convention centre and related infrastructure that will be rolling out of the design board shortly. 
 
 “ Our ambitions are higher than having seasonal tourism. Tourism is key driver of our economy and we aim to make the UAE an attractive destination all year long. This is why we will start working on providing pleasant temperature-controlled environments during the summer months. ” Shaikh Mohammad 
 
 The Mall of the World is to be located along Shaikh Zayed Road. But in its conceptualization, the project – which will be managed by Dubai Holding - will be nothing less than a city-within-a-city and also include 100 hotels . 
 
 A video of the Mall of the World plans, posted to Dubai Holding's YouTube channel. The development will be staggered along multiple phases. The cost of the build-up has not been revealed. 
 
 Apart from being the largest mall in the making by occupying 8 million square feet, it is being billed as the world’s first “temperature-controlled (pedestrian) city” and with a 48 million square feet spread. This will be through a glass dome enclosure that will be open up during the winter months, a high season for the city’s retail, leisure and hospitality sectors. On completion, it will be a year-round destination that is projected to pull in 180 million visitors annually. 
 
 “This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the 2 billion people living in the region around us; and we are determined to achieve our vision,” said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in a statement announcing the launch. 
 
 “The growth in family and retail tourism underpins the need to enhance Dubai’s tourism infrastructure as soon as possible.” 
 
 “We are confident of our economy’s strength, optimistic about our country’s future and we continue to broaden our vision.” 
 
 The Mall of the World would also host the world’s largest indoor theme park. And unlike the big-box design concepts in vogue in the global mall industry, the new development’s design ethos will be that of a “retail street network” stretching to over 7 kilometres. 
 
 Merging the twin pursuits of shopping and leisure living, the Mall of the World’s retail area will have connectivity to 100 hotels and serviced apartment properties offering up a combined 20,000 room keys. 
 
 “Our ambitions are higher than having seasonal tourism - tourism is key driver of our economy and we aim to make the UAE an attractive destination all-year long,” Shaikh Mohammad was quoted in the launch statement. “This is why we will start working on providing pleasant temperature-controlled environments during the summer months.” 
 
 Over the last decade, Dubai developers’ retail development strategy has been to bring about as much of synergy as is possible with the leisure and entertainment aspects of living. 
 
 The Mall of the World super-sizes these synergies even more. A full-scale ‘Wellness District” thus is integrated into the masterplan, and this would take up 3 million square feet. Future tenants in this cluster will offer not just cosmetic and wellness treatments but top-of-the-line health care, including specialized surgical procedures. 
 
 This will also be where the ‘Dubai Cultural District’ will be anchored. Again, the developer is eyeing for touchstones similar to what a visitor would see in London’s West End of New York’s Broadway. 
 
 It will have the ‘Celebration Walk’, akin to Barcelona’s Ramblas Street. There will be direct connectivity from the cultural cluster – which will offer a mix of conference, celebration and even wedding halls - to the rest of the mall. 
 
 Dubai’s economic turnaround was fast-tracked by retail and hospitality twinned with the ever expanding reach of Emirates airline and its jumbo-sized order book. With the Mall of the World announcement, Dubai is creating the projects that would drive these sectors forward until the Expo 2020 looms closer on the horizon. 
 
 “This project is a product of extensive research studying international and regional tourists’ requirements and preferences,” said Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of Dubai Holding, which is the entity developing the Mall. 
 
 “The objective is to create an integrated city with a plethora of best-in-class options within pleasant environments. The project will be developed in phases in alignment with the gradual growth of family tourism in Dubai.” ||||| Dubai, a shopping-loving city that is already home to one of the world's largest malls, now wants to build one even bigger. 
 
 The emirate’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has laid out plans for a sprawling real-estate project, the Mall of the World, which will include an 8-million-square-foot mall, a climate-controlled street network, a theme park covered during the scorching summer months and 100 hotels and serviced apartments. 
 
 Dubai Holding, the company behind the project, says on its website that the mall will be the world's largest, but that claim could not be independently confirmed. By comparison, Minnesota's Mall of America, the largest in the United States, is 4.87 million square feet. 
 
 Plans for the project also include a cultural and theater district drawing inspiration from New York's Broadway, a shopping thoroughfare based on London's Oxford Street and a wellness district meant to attract medical tourists. 
 
 The complex will be built near the Mall of the Emirates, which has an indoor ski slope, and is a short drive from the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, and the adjacent Dubai Mall. That shopping center is currently the emirate's largest and features a dinosaur skeleton, an indoor ice-skating rink and a multistory aquarium. 
 
 "The growth in family and retail tourism underpins the need to enhance Dubai's tourism infrastructure as soon as possible," Mohammed said Saturday in a statement announcing the plan. "This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the 2 billion people living in the region around us, and we are determined to achieve our vision." 
 
 Dubai Holding gave no details about the expected cost or completion date. 
 
 The emirate has long used high-profile, big-ticket real estate projects in attempt to drive economic growth and establish itself as an international tourist destination. Its ambitions were slowed by a financial crisis that came to a head in 2009, forcing the delay or cancellation of some of its more outlandish plans. 
 
 Dubai Holding was not spared from the financial turmoil, and some of its divisions sought new repayment terms from lenders on a debt pile that reached into the billions of dollars. 
 
 The emirate's economy has rebounded strongly in the years since the crisis, driven by trade, transportation and tourism. 
 
 Dubai is racing to develop additional infrastructure needed to accommodate a surge in visitors expected when it becomes the first Middle Eastern city to host the World Expo, in 2020. Authorities expect that event to generate $23 billion from 2015 to 2021 and estimate it will cost $8.4 billion to organize. 
 
 The new mall project alone is expected to create an additional 20,000 hotel rooms. 
 
 The Associated Press
– Being home to one of the world's largest malls is apparently not enough for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, even just five years after Dubai was crippled by a massive debt crisis. The nation’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, says his planned Mall of the World will, at 8 million square feet, be twice as large as Minnesota's Mall of America, and include a theme park covered in the summer, 100 hotels and apartments, and yes, an entire street network that is climate-controlled. This is, after all, the desert. Dubai is expecting a surge in visitors when it hosts the World Expo in 2020, reports Al Jazeera, which authorities say will cost $8.4 billion to organize but generate $23 billion. The mall should accommodate 180 million visitors a year—more than four times the current record-holder, the Las Vegas Strip, which pulls in 40 million visitors a year. The project is the world’s first “temperature-controlled (pedestrian) city," covering 48 million square feet, according to Gulf News. Though the announcement indicated that construction is imminent, it didn't include a timeline or cost, adds Reuters. (Click to read about China's plans for the world's tallest tower, rising a kilometer into the sky.)