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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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