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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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