Dubai Municipality will develop AED 1.8 billion Convention Center, Arena, on the shores of the Creek, reported Arabian Business.

The new center will be located in Al Jaddaf, and will occupy an area of 55,000 square meters, and will face Dubai Festival City, according Gulf Business.

Arena will feature 3 buildings; a huge conference hall named after Sheikh Rashid, and will include the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library.

Sheikh Rashid Hall has 5 sub-halls and has a capacity of 10,000 people with the intent of hosting international conferences, concerts and theatrical shows.

A glass corridor, the Concourse building, will link the hotel buildings and offices and will have shops and restaurants. Two hotels, 33-story and 48-story hotels, will also be part of the Arena.

The project’s completion date is within two years, and is expected to support the 2020 World Expo in Dubai.

The Arena project will “directly contribute” to improving Dubai’s global status, said Hussain Nasser Lootah, Dubai Municipality director-general. It will also prove to be “a special architectural icon”, Lootah added.

The Arena complex was announced earlier in April and is one of 6 mega-projects to be built in Dubai.