Dubai announces mega project

Dubai announces mega project

Sunday, January 30, 2005 (Dubai):

In a city already synonymous with flashy developments, a multi-billion-dollar project may set a new precedent for construction projects across the globe.

The project, dubbed the Dubai Waterfront, is a conglomeration of canals and islands studded with luxury hotels and homes.

The development, larger than the island of Manhattan, will reconfigure the map of this tiny desert emirate by adding 850 km of new waterfront, according to Nakheel, the government-held developer.

Gulf seashore

The Dubai Waterfront is expected to house 400,000 people and transform the last stretch of Dubai's undeveloped Gulf seashore.

Unique for Dubai, foreign investors are being offered a minority stake in one of the emirate's signature mega-projects. Nakheel has audacious designs for the site, split between land and sea.

The company plans a new city center that will include one of the world's tallest skyscrapers, as well as a 75-kilometer (45-mile) canal cleaving the desert and a sweeping arc of manmade islands that spills far into the Gulf.

Nakheel said in a statement that it hopes to finish the first phase including the skyscraper and artificial islands in around five years. (PTI)

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