DUBAI, 10 January 2008 — Dubai-based Nakheel, developer of islands in the shape of palm trees and a world map off Dubai’s coast, said yesterday it would build a peninsula whose attractions would include a luxury hotel shaped like a wheel.
Reclamation of rock and sand for Dubai Promenade, to be set in the Gulf with views of the Palm Jumeirah island, would be complete by the middle of 2008, Nakheel said in a statement.
Dubai, which attracts more tourists each year than any other Arab destination outside Egypt, plans to achieve economic growth of 11 percent per year to 2015, partly by attracting tourists, the ruler of the small desert emirate said last year. The emirate hopes to draw 15 million tourists a year by 2015, up from about 6.4 million in 2006.
Nakheel would reclaim 750,000 tons of rock and 650,000 cubic meters of sand for the project, which would accommodate about 10,000 residents when it is complete, Nakheel said.
Neighboring Abu Dhabi is also developing a $40 billion island off its coast.