Doha Festival City delays opening until March 2017

Yet another mega mall is slated to open in Qatar this year, albeit a month later than expected. Doha Festival City has announced that residents will have to wait at least till March 2017 before the mall opens its doors to public.

Doha Festival City manager Trevor Hill told The Peninsula this week that the mall has entered its "final development phase."

He added that plans are in line to commence celebrations from this time with continuous events, amusement and activities to take place over the coming couple of months.

The mega mall was first expected to open early 2016, but officials postponed the launch to February 2017 due to issues related to infrastructure.

This time, however, mall offcials have not clarified the reason for postponing the lauch to March 2017.

Once completed, Doha Festival City will offer a variety of shopping and entertainment options to mall-goers in the country including the 18 screen VOX Cinemas, an indoor snow park and several theme parks. The mall will also have more than 500 international and local brands, some of which will be making their Qatar debut.

Al Futtaim's QAR6.5 billion mixed-use development that houses IKEA and Doha Festival City will also boast a five-star restaurant and 8,000 parking spaces when completed in 2018.

What do you think? Are you excited for the opening?