Work on Nakheel Tower further delayed

The 200-storey tower will form the centrepiece of the Nakheel Harbour and Tower development.

Nakheel has further pushed back work on its flagship 1km-high Nakheel Tower project.

Work on the project will not resume until the start of June next year at the earliest, a spokesperson for the Dubai-based master developer has confirmed.

Development was set to resume in January next year after being placed on hold for what was originally a 12 month period at the beginning of this year.

But, asked to confirm whether the developer still intended to resume work in January, a spokesperson said that “further work on the foundations of Nakheel Harbour and Tower will commence in 12 months.

“This is part of our readjustment of our immediate business plans, to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand.”

Construction of the tower was originally expected to take ten years to complete in phases, with work on the foundations alone scheduled to take three years. WSP Group was appointed structural engineer on the tower in October last year.

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The tower, when built, will stand around 200 storeys tall and have around 150 lifts. It will form the centrepiece of a 2.7 million m2 marina development called Nakheel Harbour and Tower near to Dubai’s Ibn Battuta Mall.

The original master plan for the Nakheel Harbour and Tower project included a further 40 towers ranging in height from 20 storeys to 90 storeys. 

“There has been no further update, so as far as we’re concerned it’s just stopped,” said WSP Middle East engineering director Stephen Taylor.

There is a lot for Nakheel to consider,” Taylor added. “This is not their only project. But we’re not expecting anything over the next 12 months. It will be a bonus if it does come along.”

Nakheel has pledged to complete all of its under-construction projects, though has said it is actively seeking “to align supply and demand more closely” through the restructuring of existing contracts.

“This has meant readjusting work on some of our projects, particularly those with longer timeframes of a decade or more [such as the Harbour and Tower], and focusing on the delivery of those developments and communities that are under construction,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Nakheel also said that construction of a cruise terminal at Mina Rashid, which firms were invited to tender for last month, will go ahead despite other projects remaining on hold.

“We will press on with the terminal because we already have people booked in for cruises for years to come,” the spokesperson said.
 

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