Qatar-based Urbacon Trading and Contracting said work has resumed at Mall of Qatar after a blaze hit the $825-million shopping complex on Saturday.

When complete, the Mall of Qatar, a 500,000-sq-m retail and entertainment complex, will be the country's largest mall, with more than 500 stores, including over 100 food and beverage outlets and fine dining options.  

Urbacon said construction work and retail fit outs resumed as normal on Monday at the under construction mall.

The fire had broken out at around 2.30pm on April 2. Safety engineers were alerted immediately which prompted the safe evacuation of 14,000 workers and staff on site, and in adjacent buildings, it stated.

On information, the civil defence and traffic department sent their teams to the spot along with Al Fazaa road police and the Lekhwiya internal security forces who battled the fire and successfully brought it under control.

Pending an investigation by the related authorities and for the official outcome of their enquiries, the cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage, said a statement from the company.

Lauding the authorities for the prompt response, Mowafaq Kharbat, the project director of Urbacon said: "We are thankful that no one was harmed and our priority right now is to continue construction work and carry on with retail fit outs within the mall."

"We would like to express our gratitude to the authorities for their immediate and professional support to ensure the safety of everyone on the site and to contain the fire," he added.

Kharbat said UCC has a comprehensive operations risk plan that gets reviewed regularly and also implements stringent safety precautions on a daily basis, this was expertly put into action during this incident.-TradeArabia News Service