A $1.1 billion mega mall in the Deira district of Dubai is set to revitalise the retail sector in one of the oldest parts of the city, the chairman of developer Nakheel has said.

The Deira Islands Mall will be around 600,000 square metres in size, making it larger than the city’s largest shopping centre, Dubai Mall.

“The Deira Islands Mall contract should come to Dh4 billion ... even more,” Ali Rashid Lootah told Gulf News. “I’m hopeful we will be in a position to finalise it soon.

“There’s no new retail space in that part of the city; and that’s why available real estate there tends to be much more expensive on the other side of town [New Dubai], which is where all the recent developments have concentrated. And you have people continuing to pay extremely high prices for Deira properties.”

Lootah said that Nakheel was currently working on final designs for the mall, which should be put out for tender shortly.

Earlier this month, the master developer announced that it had started work on a $245 million resort and water park at the Deira Islands project.

Infrastructure and coastal works are well under way at the megaproject, which will add 40 km, including 21 km of beachfront, to Dubai's coastline.

Nakheel is also developing Deira Islands Night Souk, among other new attractions at the 15.3 sq km waterfront development.