DUBAI, 26 January 2004 — Dubai’s $5 billion project to offer the Middle East a theme park similar to Disneyland is to include a sprawling $750-million water resort, the largest in the region.

The Dubai Tourism Development Company announced yesterday it had signed an agreement with the Dubai-based Al-Sharq Group of Investment to construct the 2.7-million-square-foot Aqua Dubai resort.

“The Aqua Dubai will add value to Dubailand, the region’s most comprehensive and largest tourism, leisure and entertainment development and will offer the best in water-based entertainment facilities seen anywhere in the region, and most probably among the best in the world,” said Saeed Al-Muntafiq, director general of the Dubai Development and Investment Authority.

Aqua Dubai will boast a water park, a large-scale resort, a luxurious spa, water shows, a museum and aquarium as well as a games complex and restaurants.

The “Dubailand” theme park will consist of 45 different developments with labels such as Aviation World, Motor Racing World, Arabian Theme Park, Pharaohs Theme Park, Snow World, Dinosaur World and Sports City.

It will be built on a two-billion-square-foot swathe of desert, off the main road linking Dubai with Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the seven-member United Arab Emirates federation of which Dubai is part.