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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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