Dubai Islands in The Persian Gulf– Construction of artificial archipelagos

Dubai Islands: Palm Islands and The World Islands

In these years four incredible clusters of islands are on construction in the Sea in front of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the Eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula: the Palm Islands and The World Islands.

Palm Islands are artificial Islands in Dubai on which some of the major residential as well as commercial infrastructures are planned to be constructed. These islands are the major projects of land reclamation in the entire world and are expected to be the largest artificial islands in the world. Nakheel Properties, a UAE based property developer, has undertaken the project to construct the three groups of islands named as Palm Jumeirah, Palm Deira and Palm Jebel Ali. This property developer has hired Van Oord, the Dutch marine and dredging contractor who is a specialist in land reclamation process.

For increasing Dubai’s tourism, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum commissioned the islands each of which is to be constructed in a palm tree shape topped with crescent. They will be equipped with a large number of relaxation, entertainment and residential centers. The islands will be located away from the UAE coast in the Gulf of Persia and will be adding around 520 kilometers of beaches to Dubai city. Between the three island groups, there will be more than hundred luxury hotels, villas, apartments, water theme parks, marinas, restaurants, sports facilities, health spas and shopping malls.

Palm Jumeirah of Dubai Palm Islands

These Dubai islands consist of a single trunk and crown, seventeen fronts including a eleven kilometer long surrounding crescent. The first development phase will be constructing four thousand accommodations and a combination of apartments with villas.

Palm Deira of Dubai Islands

After completion, this will become the largest artificial island in the world and will house more than one million people. Although no schedule for the completion has yet been announced but expectations for the completion is by the year 2015. This is eight times larger than Palm Jumeirah and five times bigger than Palm Jebel Ali. It will be situated alongside Deira extending to 12.5 km by 7.5 km with eighteen bigger fronds. Since Palm Deira is going to be so huge, it will be developed in various phases, the first of which will be the Deira Island acting as a gateway to this huge creation.

Palm Jebel Ali of Dubai Islands

The construction of these islands began in 2002 and is expected to be complete by 2008. These islands are designed for accommodating 1.7 million residents by the year 2020. Once completed, the Dubai Waterfront will be made to encircle it. The project includes 6 marinas, one water theme park, boardwalks circling the fronds, sea village and homes built upon stilts on the water. The very first buildings on these islands are designed by Royal Haskoning who had also worked on various other projects of Dubai. A group of four theme parks will be opened on Crescent in 2012 which when together will be called ‘World of Discovery’. These parks will include Aquatica, Sea World, Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens. The parks will be situated on the top of Crescent in the shape of the orca.

The World archipelago of Dubai Islands

The biggest construction project of Dubai is the construction of the The World archipelago – more than 300 artificial islands mimicking the shape of the World, a fantastic project to take place – so many man-made islands created from nothing out in the Persian Gulf, by Arabian states called the Arabian Gulf.

The general manager of The World Project, Hamza Mustafa, said: “With reclamation at such an advanced stage, The World is truly turning from an incredible vision into a reality and is quickly evolving into a one-of-a-kind destination and investment opportunity. Engineered to be flexible and designed to be unforgettable – The World is a blank canvas in the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf with endless possibilities.”

As the construction capacity of Dubai seems to be without limitations the Dubai Islands projects are coming to an end in the not too far future. It is still too early to predict when the biggest and most ambitious construction project, The World, will be finished, but I feel assured that it will be completed in the next decade.

After the completion of these four Dubai archipelagos of islands, the tourist industry of Dubai will increase manifold based on the investments of foreign companies. The external investments in Dubai Islands will be enormous. The attraction of these investments to Dubai can be seen as a testimonial of the creativity of the thinking of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and of the Dubai authorities.