Monday, July 18, 2005
Thirty-three islands resort in the archipelago called The World
Arab island resorts are reshaping geography
United Arab Emirates building 'The World' and other enclaves
"The World," a collection of 300 man-made islands off the United Arab Emirates, is intended to look like its name when completed by 2008.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - From the air, it's an astonishing sight: two gigantic palm trees fallen flat on the sea, which on closer inspection turn out to be an intricate network of manmade islands.
And beyond the palms there's more — 300 artificial islets laid out like a map of the world. There's France, Florida, Ohio, even a mini-Antarctica baking in the 80-degree heat.
The $14 billion project that is reshaping this segment of the Persian Gulf coast is the world's largest land reclamation effort and the focus of one of its most fanciful land rushes. It's also part of Dubai's ambitions to rival Singapore and Hong Kong as a business hub, and Las Vegas as a leisure capital.
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The wealthy are already snapping up the homes on offer, even though few have been built, none has been occupied, and some exist only on maps of what is still open sea.
Even so, nonexistent properties are being sold and resold at serious premiums.
"We have watched it from the beginning. It has just been extraordinary," said Brian Scudder of Oryx Real Estate, a Dubai firm. Scudder said the properties, listed at $780,000 to $1.4 million, have doubled in price since hitting the market in May 2003.
Environmentalists see resort wiping out species
One island sold for $35 million
Thirty-three islands in the archipelago called The World, 2 1/2 miles offshore, have already sold for $7 million to $35 million each.
When the entire project is complete, in five years, there will be three "palms" linked to the mainland by causeways, plus the 6-mile-by-4-mile World, to multiply Dubai's beachfront tenfold to more than 400 miles.
Land reclamation for The Palm Jumeirah, the first and smallest of the archipelagoes, is finished, and construction of 4,000 apartments and homes on its 12 square miles is scheduled for completion early next year.
The largest, 31-square-mile Palm Deira, has yet to rise above the sea and won't be done until at least 2009, but 4,500 of its projected 7,000 homes have already sold, according to the developer, government-controlled Nakheel.
The manmade islands are not without their problems. Environmentalists say some of the millions of tons of sand and rock dropped on the seabed have buried coral reefs and oyster beds and contributed to the decline of fish stocks and turtles. The islands are also altering currents, exacerbating erosion on Dubai's natural beaches.
And the hundreds of thousands of new islanders will be living just 10 feet above the waterline. Last month, giant waves swept away five workers on the Palm Jebel Ali, one of whom drowned.
"If you build on a low coast like that you're exposing yourself to dramatic consequences, a high wave or high sea, or even if the sea rises," said Frederic Launay, director of World Wide Fund for Nature in Abu Dhabi.
No oil, but lots of resorts
Dubai, one of the seven territories that make up the United Arab Emirates, is ruled by tribal sheiks — not exactly President Bush's idea of democracy — and lies in a Middle East known mainly in the West for conflict.
Yet Dubai is among the world's safest cities, an alternate reality to war-ravaged Iraq 600 miles to the north.
Lacking the oil that has enriched other Gulf states, this Rhode Island-sized emirate is determined to be a global business player without oil. It has scotched almost all taxes, offers luxury resorts and shopping, and is open to foreign investors and residents. Its natural assets include pale sandy beaches and almost guaranteed sunshine.
"By the 1990s, all the beaches were developed. So we decided to build more," said Hamza Mustafa, assistant sales manager for Nakheel, which is controlled by Dubai's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Sheik Mohammed ordered Nakheel to build the beach islands and personally signed off on the palm design, which maximizes beach frontage, Mustafa said.
"Every grain of sand is utilized for beach," Mustafa said.
For three years, the sea has bustled with barges dropping 6-ton boulders into water as deep as 70 feet, and dredgers blowing rainbows of sand sucked from the bottom.
United Arab Emirates building 'The World' and other enclaves
"The World," a collection of 300 man-made islands off the United Arab Emirates, is intended to look like its name when completed by 2008.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - From the air, it's an astonishing sight: two gigantic palm trees fallen flat on the sea, which on closer inspection turn out to be an intricate network of manmade islands.
And beyond the palms there's more — 300 artificial islets laid out like a map of the world. There's France, Florida, Ohio, even a mini-Antarctica baking in the 80-degree heat.
The $14 billion project that is reshaping this segment of the Persian Gulf coast is the world's largest land reclamation effort and the focus of one of its most fanciful land rushes. It's also part of Dubai's ambitions to rival Singapore and Hong Kong as a business hub, and Las Vegas as a leisure capital.
Story continues below ? advertisement
The wealthy are already snapping up the homes on offer, even though few have been built, none has been occupied, and some exist only on maps of what is still open sea.
Even so, nonexistent properties are being sold and resold at serious premiums.
"We have watched it from the beginning. It has just been extraordinary," said Brian Scudder of Oryx Real Estate, a Dubai firm. Scudder said the properties, listed at $780,000 to $1.4 million, have doubled in price since hitting the market in May 2003.
Environmentalists see resort wiping out species
One island sold for $35 million
Thirty-three islands in the archipelago called The World, 2 1/2 miles offshore, have already sold for $7 million to $35 million each.
When the entire project is complete, in five years, there will be three "palms" linked to the mainland by causeways, plus the 6-mile-by-4-mile World, to multiply Dubai's beachfront tenfold to more than 400 miles.
Land reclamation for The Palm Jumeirah, the first and smallest of the archipelagoes, is finished, and construction of 4,000 apartments and homes on its 12 square miles is scheduled for completion early next year.
The largest, 31-square-mile Palm Deira, has yet to rise above the sea and won't be done until at least 2009, but 4,500 of its projected 7,000 homes have already sold, according to the developer, government-controlled Nakheel.
The manmade islands are not without their problems. Environmentalists say some of the millions of tons of sand and rock dropped on the seabed have buried coral reefs and oyster beds and contributed to the decline of fish stocks and turtles. The islands are also altering currents, exacerbating erosion on Dubai's natural beaches.
And the hundreds of thousands of new islanders will be living just 10 feet above the waterline. Last month, giant waves swept away five workers on the Palm Jebel Ali, one of whom drowned.
"If you build on a low coast like that you're exposing yourself to dramatic consequences, a high wave or high sea, or even if the sea rises," said Frederic Launay, director of World Wide Fund for Nature in Abu Dhabi.
No oil, but lots of resorts
Dubai, one of the seven territories that make up the United Arab Emirates, is ruled by tribal sheiks — not exactly President Bush's idea of democracy — and lies in a Middle East known mainly in the West for conflict.
Yet Dubai is among the world's safest cities, an alternate reality to war-ravaged Iraq 600 miles to the north.
Lacking the oil that has enriched other Gulf states, this Rhode Island-sized emirate is determined to be a global business player without oil. It has scotched almost all taxes, offers luxury resorts and shopping, and is open to foreign investors and residents. Its natural assets include pale sandy beaches and almost guaranteed sunshine.
"By the 1990s, all the beaches were developed. So we decided to build more," said Hamza Mustafa, assistant sales manager for Nakheel, which is controlled by Dubai's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Sheik Mohammed ordered Nakheel to build the beach islands and personally signed off on the palm design, which maximizes beach frontage, Mustafa said.
"Every grain of sand is utilized for beach," Mustafa said.
For three years, the sea has bustled with barges dropping 6-ton boulders into water as deep as 70 feet, and dredgers blowing rainbows of sand sucked from the bottom.
