Gardens Shopping Mall construction commences

The interchange will be located at the northern end of the mall, between interchanges 5 and 6 on Shaikh Zayed Road and access (entry and exit) will be provided from both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai directions.

Nakheel had undertaken substantial research in order to implement a traffic system that ensures a smooth movement of traffic at the Gardens Shopping Mall. As part of the overall traffic scheme, Nakheel is constructing the dedicated interchange and the various arterial roads in co-operation with Dubai Municipality. The interchange has been designed by Parsons International Limited and Wade Adams is the main contractor.

"Once the mall commences operations the volume of traffic to and from the area will naturally increase substantially. In order to ensure the least interruption to the flow of traffic on Shaikh Zayed Road it necessitates a dedicated interchange," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of Nakheel.

The mall's convenient location was chosen after extensive research studies calculating the future population of the area within a 15 minute radius.

This area is experiencing a major residential and tourism development boom and within this 15 minute radius are several of Nakheel's other projects including The Gardens, Jumeirah Islands, The Palm and Jumeirah Lake Towers.

Further commenting on the overall mall Sulayem said, "The construction is progressing well with the majority of the structure now in place. The success with leasing of the mall has also been very re-assuring with 70 per cent now leased."

The Gardens Shopping Mall's concept has been based on the travels of the famous 18th century explorer Ibn Battuta.

The mall's architecture and interiors will reflect five of the key countries the explorer travelled , which includes Morocco, Egypt, Persia, India and China as well as invoke the region's unique heritage in a surprisingly modern retail, dining and entertainment environment.