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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