Dubai's globe islands 'sinking'

[jandajoy]

Dubai's globe islands 'sinking'


18:00 AEST Tue Feb 2 2010
ago

By ninemsn staff











An artist's depiction of the finished project. (Getty)



There are fears the ambitious World Islands project in Dubai will sink into the ocean after photographs from space appear to show the globe is washing away and neglected.
Construction of the man-made cluster of islands began in 2003 about 4km off the coast of the wealthy United Arab Emirates city.
While the foundations, which required 11 billion cubic feet of sand and 47 million tonnes of rock, were finished in 2008, the project has been shut down since last year as financer Dubai World battles $26 billion debt, the Daily Mail reports.
In the snapshot taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station, the lagoon's islands appear to be merging together since being abandoned by workers in November.
Other islands appear to be sinking into the water as reports claim the spectacular project may never be completed.
The luxurious Palm Jumeirah (pictured to the globe's left) opened in 2008 at an estimated cost of $1.44 billion.
Dubai World, the owner of the island, has asked for extra time to repay its astronomical debt, as the extravagant tourist destination battles a financial crisis sparked by heavy borrowing to finance massive property projects.
The emirate narrowly escaped financial catastrophe in December after Dubai World was thrown a last-minute $11 billion lifeline by neighbouring Abu Dhabi.




Why does this please me in some small way?

[Butterfly]

The luxurious Palm Jumeirah (pictured to the globe's left) opened in 2008 at an estimated cost of $1.44 billion.

cheap !!!

Why does this please me in some small way?

I hear you,

[aging one]

same feeling jj.

[ItsRobsLife]

Yup. f**k 'em.

[Chico the Fox]

I'm a bit smug as well, and kinda hoping that airconditioned beach they have gets a bit of long shore drift action too

[Slipstream]

White Elephants of White Elephants is what they are.

Cheap, abused labour and dizzy dreams come to mind when I think of Dubai.

[Belepheron]

I have never understood the attraction of going to live in a place like Dubai. You go there to earn your wedge then retire someplace with a bit more culture and class like Burkina Faso where you also get a better class of neighbours.

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

Gonna be contrarian here. Lets set aside the 'class warfare' schadenfreude.

I think its a shame its sinking.

This is a big crazy architectural project. A mad, latter day 'Great Wall of China' .

A folly in its way, and architectural follies are to be praised.

Otherwise we just have rows and rows of "me too" post-modern high rises.

[Rural Surin]

Gonna be contrarian here. Lets set aside the 'class warfare' schadenfreude.

I think its a shame its sinking.

This is a big crazy architectural project. A mad, latter day 'Great Wall of China' .

A folly in its way, and architectural follies are to be praised.

Otherwise we just have rows and rows of "me too" post-modern high rises.

Surely, you're not comparing this ill-thought project to resemble anything close to a modern/ancient wonder of the world?

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

^No its not the pyramids of Giza, but its something different in a world of homogenous architecture.

Just look around Thailand - millions of identical concrete box shop houses.

Given the choice, i'd prefer the Athenee Residences fell down rather than these sand dunes sink.

[Rural Surin]

^No its not the pyramids of Giza, but its something different in a world of homogenous architecture.

Just look around Thailand - millions of identical concrete box shop houses.

Given the choice, i'd prefer the Athenee Residences fell down rather than these sand dunes sink.

Modern man {last 200 years} have lost the creative and artful instincts.

[BobR]

The sinking should come as no surprise. The Japanese built an island off Osaka to accommodate Kansai Airport in the early 1990's and had similar problems with the dirt settling. You have to admire their ambitions, a project such as this would never get past the stage of endless litigation by environmentalists in the West.

[Muadib]

Gonna be contrarian here. Lets set aside the 'class warfare' schadenfreude.

I've always found it interesting that German is the only language to have defined a word for deriving pleasure from someone else's misery...

[Wallalai]

It's the beginning of the new era all arabs countries should never had left: goat and camel sheperds.

[nikster]

Gonna be contrarian here. Lets set aside the 'class warfare' schadenfreude.

I've always found it interesting that German is the only language to have defined a word for deriving pleasure from someone else's misery...

That's a bit of a myth if you look at it more closely. In German, you can derive a new word by cobbling together two (or three) old worlds, so this one's "Schaden" (damage) and "Freude" (joy). If anything this is now a distinct word in English.

[nikster]

About Dubai.. the Sheiks are dreaming... most of their dreams are cheesy. But who knows some stuff coming out of this might be cool.
Of course they overdid it and have to retract now but given that they are sitting on a money printing press I am confident they'll be back. Think of these islands every time you fill up at the gas station

[Thaiguy]

same feeling jj.

I'm with you !( read as I'm so sorry!)

[Thaiguy]

It's the beginning of the new era all arabs countries should never had left: goat and camel sheperds.

Have to admire their foresightedness - with the end of fossil fuel as a major product demand very clearly in site they had the nous to find a dramatic alternative to access a major dollar resource, ie those with more than they could use in a lifetime ( wish I was one of them ).
Has to be something to be said about the feudal attitude of get it done now because I want it and to hell with the poor and the environment?
As someone else said if it was Aus. we would have several referendums, a moratorium or 50 and the eternal damnation of the "Greens" brought down on us.
Personally I hope we get even and the B....ds go broke.

[crippen]

The sinking should come as no surprise. The Japanese built an island off Osaka to accommodate Kansai Airport in the early 1990's and had similar problems with the dirt settling. You have to admire their ambitions, a project such as this would never get past the stage of endless litigation by environmentalists in the West.

Yes,but the Japs planned ahead,and built the whole airport buildings on hydraulic jacks so they could raise it as the foundations sank.

In 1991, the terminal construction commenced. To compensate for the sinking of the island, adjustable columns were designed to support the terminal building. From Kansai International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Bexar County Stud]

A folly in its way, and architectural follies are to be praised.

Just look around Thailand - millions of identical concrete box shop houses.

These grotesque developments are essentially gated communities for the criminally rich.

While shop houses are part of a rich urban/public context.

[Butterfly]

another case of too much money sitting idle fueling silly and inefficient projects like those just to please the ego of a few megalo

those projects will never have a positive NPV no matter what, it's a complete waste. Maybe as art, I suppose they could be tolerated.

[BobR]

The sinking should come as no surprise. The Japanese built an island off Osaka to accommodate Kansai Airport in the early 1990's and had similar problems with the dirt settling. You have to admire their ambitions, a project such as this would never get past the stage of endless litigation by environmentalists in the West.

Yes,but the Japs planned ahead,and built the whole airport buildings on hydraulic jacks so they could raise it as the foundations sank.

In 1991, the terminal construction commenced. To compensate for the sinking of the island, adjustable columns were designed to support the terminal building. From Kansai International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, I read about it and been there. One of the few places where the airport you land at is a fascinating tourist attraction itself. Absolutely amazing what they accomplished there.

[Jesus Jones]

Is the sinking due to global warming and all that, or just shoddy workmanship? Personally, i think global warming could have had effected the engineering, and its quite possible that the mathematicians didn't take into consideration, or realize that global warming was much much worse than any of us could anticipate!

[Mid]

The World is sinking: Dubai islands 'falling into the sea'
Richard Spencer
20 Jan 2011

The islands were intended as the ultimate luxury possession, even for Dubai.


The low-lying islands represent a vague shape out to sea when viewed from Dubai's beaches
Photo: AFP/GETTY

But the World, the ambitiously-constructed archipelago of islands shaped like the countries of the globe, is sinking back into the sea, according to evidence cited before a property tribunal.

The islands were intended to be developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires. They are off the coast of Dubai and accessible by yacht or motor boat.

Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges.

"The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added.

With all but one of the islands still uninhabited – Greenland – and that one a showpiece owned by the ruler of Dubai, most of the development plans have been brought to a crashing halt by the financial crisis.

Nakheel, the developer, was part of Dubai World, the state-owned conglomerate that had to be bailed out of debts put at around $25 billion at the end of 2009. The Dubai World Tribunal was set up to hear cases arising out of the restructuring and separation of the companies involved.

The low-lying islands represent a vague shape out to sea when viewed from Dubai's beaches, but are visible by satellite or from the top of the city's Burg Khalifa, the world's tallest building, which opened to the public last year.

According to the company, 70 per cent of the World's 300 islands have been sold. Nakheel is also behind Dubai's famous Palm-shaped offshore developments. Villas in the only one near completion, Palm Jumeirah, were given to or bought by footballers including David Beckham and Michael Owen.

Though few celebrity buyers were found for The World, it was rumoured – or joked – that Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie had considered Ethiopia.

Many investors who did buy the islands proved unwilling or unable to finance further work when Dubai's property prices halved in the space of a year.

Some were hit by troubles elsewhere – the owner of the company which bought Ireland for £24 million, John O'Dolan, committed suicide, while the man who bought Britain for £43 million, Safi Qurashi, is serving seven years in jail in Dubai after being accused of bouncing cheques.

The dispute being heard by the property tribunal involves Penguin Marine, the company which bought the rights to provide boat travel to the islands.

With little business, it is trying to exit the contract, which involves paying an annual fee of just under £1 million to Nakheel.

Nahkeel say they will cash an advanced payment guarantee worth just over £1 million if that happens.

Penguin claim that work on the islands has "effectively stopped". Mr Wilmot-Smith described the project as "dead".

Graham Lovett, for Nakheel, said the project was not dead but admitted it was "in a coma".

"This is a ten-year project which has slowed down," he said. "This is a project which will be completed."

He said Penguin would make money eventually. "That's the price Penguin makes to stay in the game," he said. "They have the potential to earn millions."

The tribunal found for Nakheel on Thursday, saying it would give full reasoning later.

A spokesman for Nakheel insisted the islands were not sinking. "Our periodical monitoring survey over the past three years didn't observe any substantial erosion that requires sand nourishment," a statement said.

telegraph.co.uk

[HermantheGerman]

Modern man {last 200 years} have lost the creative and artful instincts.

Surely, you're not comparing this ill-thought project to resemble anything close to a modern/ancient wonder of the world?

When you think about all the money being wasted for preservation of so called ancient wonders (starting at 200 years and getting older), Dubai seems peanuts to me.