The upcoming Mall of Qatar (MOQ) has once again pushed back its opening date, saying it now plans to open at the end of October this year.

It is the second under-construction mega-mall in Qatar to recently delay its public launch.

Last month, rival mall Doha Festival City said it was pushing its opening from this fall to February 2017, citing issues with the “supporting infrastructure.”

‘Readjusted’

For its part, MOQ’s general manager Rony Mourani told Bloomberg earlier this week that the new opening is slated for Oct. 29.

That’s more than a year behind schedule and more than two months later than its most recently announced launch date.

However, in a statement to Doha News, Mall of Qatar officials insisted the opening was not “delayed,” but simply “readjusted.”

Mourani said that individual tenants needed more time to complete their retail fit-outs before the mall opened to customers.

He added that the rescheduling was unrelated to last month’s fire at the property.

“(The fire) was contained and had only affected a small area of the mall within the food court, damaging the finishings that had been installed which have all been reordered and are currently in process of being refitted.”

Thoughts?