Dubai is pushing ahead with a new USD20bn district on the city’s main highway, which will include a development of 3,000 homes and 15 hotels. Construction of the first phase of Jumeirah Central is set to start in mid-2017 and will cost around AED24bn  (USD6.5bn), according to Morgan Parker, chief operating officer at Jumeirah Central, a unit of state-owned Dubai Holding. He declined to say when the first phase would be completed. “We will be responding to market needs and we’ll also respond to capital, because when capital comes it means investors thought about the market,” Parker told reporters on Sunday. The developer is exploring all funding options, including loans and bonds, and is currently in talks with investors on almost all of the 69 projects within the first phase, he said. (Bloomberg)