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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.
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