Dubai man-made island nears completion
By JIM KRANE, AP Business Writer Sun Aug 6, 3:26 PM ETDUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With 14,000 laborers toiling day and night, the first of Dubai's three palm-shaped islands is finally about to get its first residents.
The Palm Jumeirah, a 12-square-mile island group, is part of what's billed as the largest land-reclamation project in the world, the product of five years of brute hauling of millions of tons of Persian Gulf sand and quarried rock.
On Nov. 30, the palm will open to some 4,000 residents, said Issam Kazim, a spokesman for Dubai's state-owned developer Nakheel.
The rest.
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5 comments:
A meaty article with a lot of detail; not sure I agree with all the conclusions and suggestions.
One of the main suggestions is that it may not be that desirable a place to be with a lot of ongoing construction. I disagree with this because there is and will be construction going on all around Dubai for sometime. Any buyer should have accepted this as a given. In the case of the Palm, so long as the trunk is open and in business, then anyone on their individual frond should not be bothered by construction going on at any other.
Also, the suggestion that there will be an excess of property units as early as this year is, in my view, far off the mark. My prediction for this "problem" to set in is 2008. That will be the year landlords will no longer be able to increase rent dramatically year on year.
Let's see who will be the first to sink
did any1 read the messages that readers left on the discuss board?
BD - 4 more years of construction is a long time for these people, who have paid millions to be out there, to be fighting construction traffic and noise - especially whent there's only one way on and off the island.
If you can look at the trunk, it's a long way from being finished - in fact, it's probably going to be the last area to be completed. The hotels haven't started going up yet.
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From the article: Reports from those who have wandered through the island's giant homes describe them as cheaply finished and set uncomfortably close to one another. Nakheel rejected an Associated Press request to visit the island.
Yup, I can imagine that there are going to be a lot of unhappy home owners when they see what's out there - hell hath no fury like a Victoria Beckham scorned!
But I imagine that Nakheel will find some happy homeowners who they will drag out in front of the press to say how elated they are, and being rewarded for their extra PR efforts.
The issues with The World project stem from it being an economic and strategic blunder. Aside from the logistical effort that it takes to first build the islands, get amenities out there like power and water, there's the issue of finding buyers who:
a) have millions of dirhams
b) want to live on an island off the coast of Dubai
c) will put down their money in the dim hope that one day they'll see something for it
It's a hard-hitting article, but fair in my opinion. It says what a lot of press people have not said, or have not been able to say, for years.
After the less than successful delievery of their Jumeirah Islands project, I've always maintained that Nakheel's future depends on The Palm Jumeirah being delivered to happy homeowners.
The publicity machine can only keep polishing the gold-plated facade for so long until it starts wearing off to reveal the cheaper metal below.
Samir - pay no attention to the messages. They are mostly posted by the (unfortunately mostly American) ignorant, unwashed and uneducated who have most likely never travelled further than their city limits, as well as the message board trolls who deliberately post things like these to solicit a response. Don't go there to respond - you're not dealing with people who are open to change, other people's opinions, or willing to intelligently debate!
I find I tend toward being an apoligist for the likes of Nakheel and others--sometimes just to provide another side to the argument. There are a lot of reasons for people to be concerned but a lot of the criticism is also based on speculation.
The only access to the island via the bridge concern is over-played I think. It will be a 10-lane bridge. That is about equal to Maktoum bridge and Shindaga tunnels combined. Although these are regularly jammed, we're talking about a major slice of Dubai and Sharjah residents plus visitors relying on that. With the Palm you won't nearly have that level of traffic, so 10 lanes ought to be enough.
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