Japanese firms will set up monorail in Palm Jumeirah

Dubai: Property developer Nakheel yesterday awarded a Japanese consortium the $390 million contract to set up a monorail system in Palm Jumeirah, said a senior company official.

Nakheel was confirming reports from Japan.

Trading house Marubeni Corp said yesterday that it, along with Hitachi and Obayashi Corp., had won a contract to build a monorail system in Dubai for $390 million from Nakheel.

The Japanese company said the monorail system is planned to start operating in December 2008.

The official also said the monorail will be used internally in Palm Jumeirah and cover the entire island.

Nakheel, one of region's leading developers, has three Palm Islands in the works Deira, Jumeirah and Jebel Ali. It is also building a collection of islands called The World.

Nakheel has announced recently that it has a tower, Al Burj, in the works that will rival Emaar's Burj Dubai for the title of the world's highest building.

Nakheel sold Dh25 billion worth of residential and commercial units through 14 projects during the past two years.