DUBAI, 18 September 2005 — The United Arab Emirates has launched infrastructure and real estate projects worth 1.5 trillion dirhams ($409 billion) in less than two years, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Around half the projects announced or started since early 2004, and which are to be completed over the next few years, have been launched in Dubai, said Dubai-based Al-Bayan.
Other major projects have been announced in Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest member of the seven-strong UAE federation, and other emirates, it said.
Al-Bayan published a list of the major ventures, ranging from resorts and public facilities to man-made islands and “Dubailand” - projected as a Middle Eastern version of Disneyland.
It said the size of the investments put the UAE at the top of the world list in terms of construction, a position hitherto held by countries such as China, Malaysia and the United States.
Mega ventures are announced almost daily in the oil-rich UAE, chiefly in Dubai, where resorts, shopping malls and residential complexes are sprouting across desert sands and even in the sea.