Why are 300 islands worth 12 billion dollars of Dubai deserted?
At the end of the last century, the United Arab Emirates embarked on a project to build a complex of luxurious artificial islands. Remember that there are already several artificial islands in South America’s Lake Titicaca that are centuries old. Although this was not a project that would revolutionize Dubai, it did draw attention to other things. For example, its design was such that if you see it from the air, you can’t stop admiring it. One of these projects was the most exciting and known as ‘The World.’ It is a series of about 300 artificial islands that recreate the shape of the seven continents seen on the world map. The project was launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates in 2003. The idea behind it was that interested buyers could choose any one of the islands that mapped any country from the UK and the US to Greenland.
They wanted to create luxurious islands for the world’s richest people to buy as real estate. For this purpose, 12 billion US dollars were invested, about 321 million cubic meters of sand, and 386 million tons of stone were used. Professor Alastair Bonnet, a geographer at Newcastle University and author of the book A Journey into the Era of Artificial Islands, told BBC Mundo that ‘the UAE’s vision was to reduce its dependence on oil and create a resource base. An alternative source should be found and for this purpose he chose real estate business. According to the portal, ‘none of the projects have been completed yet. Most of the islands of ‘The World’ are deserted where only sand is scattered everywhere.’nAnd the reasons for this are all the more frustrating. Although 60 percent of the project has been sold, and although the developers say they are continuing to work on the project, months of investigation show signs of erosion on the islands.
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In the year 1999, the United Arab Emirates presented itself to the world as a modern and international country. In the same year, the Burj Al Arab Hotel opened in Dubai, offering a new concept of luxury to the world. And in the same year the Sheikh of the United Arab Emirates announced the ‘La Palma Jumeirah’ project. It is a residential and hotel complex built on an artificial island that looks exactly like a palm tree. The project sold very well and many more similar projects were launched later. Then in 2003, Al Maktoum himself allowed the construction of ‘The World,’ a network of 300 islands off the coast of Dubai, in an attempt to imitate ‘Palm Jumeirah.’
The Guardian newspaper reporter Oliver Wainwright explains that the projects on each island were also quite surprising: a Chinese billionaire planned to build a replica of the Shanghai skyline on his island, with the Shanghai Tower as part of the project. .’ Wainwright says that a company called Opulence Holdings bought the Somali island. He wanted to build a seahorse sculpture on it where residents could play golf from their balconies. But the truth is that only one or two complexes were built. One of these was shaped like a Greenland, with a sort of ‘model house’ built and installed, and everything the project included (promised to residents), from resorts to restaurants. Everything was shown
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