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Dubai launches giant palm tree resort island
Dubai has
unveiled plans for a palm tree-shaped resort
island on land reclaimed from the sea that
will add 120 kilometres of sandy beaches
and be visible from the moon.
"Palm
Island" will include 2,000 villas,
up to 40 luxury hotels, shopping complexes,
cinemas and the Middle East's first marine
park, said Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman
of Dubai Palm Developers.
The island
will be built in the shape of 17 huge fronds
surrounded by 12 kilometres (7.5 miles)
of protective barrier reefs, extending five
kilometres (three miles) into the sea south
of Dubai city.
"The
project has taken four years of methodical
planning and exhaustive feasibility studies
to ensure that the islands can be built
without disrupting the environment,"
Sulayem said.
They will
be accessible by 300-metre (990-feet) bridges
from the mainland or boat to two marinas,
while the main causeway will also have a
monorail system.
The project
will be built on 80 million cubic metres
(2.8 billion cubic feet) of land dredged
from the approach channel to the emirate's
Jebel Ali port, an operation that will deepen
the channel to 17 metres (56 feet).
Khalid bin
Sulayem, head of Dubai's tourism board,
said the project would elevate Dubai "from
regional players to leaders in tourism development
who focus on modernising and expanding tourism
infrastructure to attract more tourists."
Property
on the islands, expected to take up to four
years to complete, will be for sale to foreigners
as well as Emiratis. Sulayem did not put
on a figure on the project cost.
A consultant
with Palm Developers told AFP at Dubai's
Arabian Travel Market that the contract
for the project was expected to be awarded
next week and construction take up to five
years.
With its oil resources running out, Dubai,
part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
has launched a multi-billion dollar tourism
drive in an effort to establish itself as
the Gulf's leisure hub.
The local
Abdullah al-Futtaim Group last month launched
Dubai Festival City, a project to develop
a four-kilometre-long (2.5-mile-long) stretch
of the emirate's southern creekside at a
cost of 1.6 billion dollars.
And a 10-billion dollar project to build
a new city called Dubai Marina is already
well underway. It is to house 100,000 people
around a huge water basin within a decade. |
