Throughout the Gulf region there is much talk about creating diversified economies. Unfortunately, action on the same subject is often lacking. But one place that is trying hard to develop sources of income unrelated to the vagaries of the international price of petroleum is the Emirate of Dubai.
For the last decade, Dubai has been working to sell itself as a tourist destination. Hotels, shopping malls, marinas, spas and other leisure facilities have been constructed at a remarkable pace. Its bid to be recognized as a vacation destination has been quite successful and now tourists come in droves to play in Dubai. There was one small problem though with the increasing numbers of visitors. They preferred to stay at hotels located on the Arabian Gulf, but Dubai had a serious shortage of coastline suitable for development. The 10-kilometer stretch between Jumeirah and Jebel Ali was becoming crowded and prime beachfront property was scarce. The concerned ministries were in a quandary about what could be done to add to the number of properties available so that tourism would continue to heat up Dubai’s economy.
In 1997, Dubai’s Crown Prince and UAE Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum had an idea. “He was thinking of an island development project and wanted to find a consultant to prepare a masterplan,” said Sultan Bin Sulayem, chairman, Dubai Palm Developers. “Warren Pickering, an Australian designer, was entrusted with the conceptual design.”
Pickering came up with a design that envisaged an offshore development, maximizing beach frontage. Under the original plan, just one island was to be built, accessible only by boat.
“Sheikh Mohammed suggested changes in the design by adding a causeway thus making a connection to the mainland,” said Bin Sulayem.
With the changes incorporated into the design, Canadian marine engineering consultant Baird was appointed to conduct a feasibility study.
What was all this activity focused on? It was to be a totally new concept in tourism. Basically the project is all about creating beaches in a beautiful, innovative way and that is how the Palm Islands emerged. Comprising two man-made islands, the development is being implemented on a fast-track basis with the first tourists due to land in 2005-06. To maximize surface area, each island will be built in the shape of a palm tree, with 17 fronds, and a trunk connected to the mainland. Six kilometers in diameter, the islands will each have 60 kilometers of coastline, protected by barrier reefs. The Government of Dubai will be overseeing the entire project through its agency, Dubai Palm Developers (DPD).
Before any move was made to start the project, the Government of Dubai needed to be sure that that project was not only viable from a construction standpoint but that it was also acceptable from an environmental perspective. So in addition to the feasibility study done by Baird, nine international environmental engineering firms were contracted to examine the environmental concerns.
“There were a lot of technical issues that had to be addressed by Baird, such as the tide flows, the depth of the sea and the impact of the project on the coastline,” said Bin Sulayem. “We were also interested in creating a healthy marine environment and biological materials that naturally attract wildlife will be used in the islands’ construction. Far from damaging the UAE’s coastline, we have carefully planned to create a haven for wildlife where currently very little exists. It is important to note that not a single head of live coral will be touched during the project’s development.”
It was not until mid-2000 that the final go-ahead was given for Palm Islands. DPD then appointed two US firms — Hill International as project manager and team leader and Parsons International for selected design elements. The project’s implementation has been broken down into three phases. The first, lasting two years, involves the dredging and reclamation of the two islands. The 18-month, second phase, is for the infrastructure development, and the third and final phase covers the construction of buildings and amenities. The first two phases are being funded by the Government of Dubai and local and international banks in the amount of $3 billion.
Two $270 million contracts, awarded in late May and early June, have been given to Asian contractors. Malaysia’s Perkapalen Mesra is to build the first island, located 300 meters offshore from the Dubai Marina to the north of Jebel Ali. The second island, situated some 20 kilometers southwest of the Jebel Ali Free Zone and Port, is to be constructed by China Railway & Engineering Corporation (CREC). Planning and mobilization of the dredging equipment has begun and the dredging and reclamation work for the two islands will begin later in the summer.
The enormous scale of Palm Islands will create major challenges during the construction phase. Each island will be built from about 80 million cubic meters of sand and rock. Most of the sand will be dredged from the seabed, but the rock will need to be transported from quarries in the UAE and Iran by truck and barge.
“All 80 million cubic meters of raw materials will be put into place using an entirely marine-based operation,” said Saeed Ahmed Saeed, senior manager, Engineering Projects, DPD. “To minimize any disruption onshore, barges will be used to bring the rocks directly from the quarries to the marine site. A network of four temporary jetties will be constructed in the location where the islands are to be built.”
The dredging and reclamation work should be a fairly straightforward operation but managing the project will become much more complicated once the infrastructure development begins. According to the project managers, more than a dozen consultants will be taken on board to oversee the infrastructure works. These are expected to be broken down into 11 separate packages, covering: flyovers, tunnels and bridges; a monorail system; wastewater collection, storm water drainage, irrigation, domestic water supply, piped gas supply and telecommunications systems; a sewage treatment plant; a chilled water supply system; roads and related civil works; two marinas; a solid waste collection system; landscape and water features; facilities for inland transport; and a fire-fighting system. The largest package, in terms of cost, will be the monorail development. The water supply and wastewater systems package is also considered sizable, as is the chilled water supply system.
Once the infrastructure is progressing, it will be time to begin building the hotels, residential units and leisure facilities. About 20 boutique hotels will be built on each island’s barrier reef. These hotels will not be more than two stories in height and they will have 60-100 rooms each. On the trunk portion of each island, three large five-star hotels will be built. There is already great interest in all the hotels. The German hotel chain Kempinski has signed to build one of the boutique hotels and more than 60 other hotel groups are working with DPD to come to terms.
The hotels will house the tourists but Palm Islands has also been conceived as a permanent community and in light of this about 2,000 residential units, consisting of villas and apartments, will be constructed on the palm fronds of each island. For the villas, which come completely furnished, investors will select an architectural design from 30 different themes on offer. Sample villas in each style are being built near Emirates Hills in Dubai, to assist purchasers in their decision. It is anticipated that the villas will cost about $550,000 each. The properties will be for sale to all GCC nationals and are available internationally on 99-year leases.
The “tree trunk” portions of each island will be connected to Dubai’s mainland by 300-meter long bridges. Visitors coming over to the islands by car will be guided into large underground car parks. Residents and tourists will be directed to separate facilities. The project design also includes two marinas per island, each capable of berthing 200 yachts, and providing berthing facilities for ferries that will be shuttling tourists to and from the reef hotels. The trunk of each island is the main entertainment area. A wide-range of retail and leisure facilities such as multiplex cinemas, health spas and a marine park are to be created there for the benefit and amusement of all.
It can be hard to imagine how big this project is, so think of this. After the Great Wall of China and the Jebel Ali Port, Palm Islands will be only the third man-made structure visible with the naked eye from outer space.