Dubai developer Nakheel has announced the launch of Jebel Ali Gardens, a brand new community providing accommodation for more than 40,000 people in the UAE emirate.

The new master-developed project will comprise nearly 10,000 apartments in 42 buildings, set amid lush, landscaped gardens with pools and sports facilities, said Nakheel. Apartments range from one to three bedrooms, and each building will also have ground floor retail space.

The project, which will also feature three mosques accommodating a total of 3,000 people, is set on a 5.5-million-sq-ft site and will comprise a built-up area of more than 19 million sq ft. Jebel Ali Gardens will include over 1.1 million sq ft of green, landscaped parks – around one-fifth of the site area – which will also feature a 2-km jogging track, swimming pools, football fields and tennis and basketball courts.

Nakheel also unveiled its ambitious plan to transform the entire trunk of Palm Jumeirah into a walkable beach, park, retail and café complex under a new project.

The Palm Promenade will stretch 1.5 km along the island’s trunk, with new walkways and road crossings connecting the area’s 30 apartment buildings with Al Ittihad Park, Palm West Beach and the growing number of retail, dining  and entertainment facilities on The Palm.

Meanwhile, Nakheel has signed a trio of contracts worth Dh2.4 billion ($653 million) for construction work at its new mixed-use community of more than 1,500 villas and serviced residences at Nad Al Sheba in Dubai.

The project will be built in three packages by UAE-based Trojan General Contracting, United Engineering Construction (Unec) and Metac General Contracting Company.

Under the first package, a deal worth Dh830 million ($226 million) was awarded to Trojan for main community infrastructure work and the construction of 489 villas. The second package involved a Dh789-million ($215 million) contract to Unec to build 482 villas along with the infrastructure work. Under the third package, a Dh781-million ($213 million) contract was signed with Metac for 468 villas and infrastructure, it added.