20 April, 2007

Huge Dubai Creek Extension


A 13 kilometre extension to Dubai Creek, which will more than double its length, was approved yesterday by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It will run from Ras Al Khor, which is the wetland at the end of the natural Creek, into the Gulf at Jumeirah, giving it two outlets to the sea.

Read More [Via Metroblogging Dubai]

14 comments:

B.D. said...

...and a new island called Bur Dubai!

Anonymous said...

hm... looks like i'll be living under water then
and it's inlets, not outlets - the creek carries the sea water inland, unlike rivers

BuJ said...

hmm.. if it ain't bust then don't fix it!

don't we have enough jams with the metro and a zillion road extentions?

now we'll effectively need another 10 bridges or so for this to work.. and that's just in the temporary case.. imagine the future needs.. it was be stringed with bridges that it'll look so ugly and u won't see/appreciate the water.

finally, anyone considered the poor birds at the end of the khor?

nzm said...

BuJ: the birds are already out of luck with the Lagoons Project. If that doesn't scare them off, nothing will.

CG said...

perhaps Dubai Business Bay needed an actual bay.

Anyway, this is old news I thought. This was all talked about months ago.

BuJ said...

lol@persian buddy.. my dear.. take the islands and the name..

that's really pathetic.. people who don't have a cause go looking for one and picking fights.. fine man.. just chill

anyway.. CG you're right.. actually this project was announced the same time they announed Dubai Waterfront (the extension bit to the palm jabal ali) but it was only approved today.

so yeah i guess it was first publicised about 2 yrs ago. which in dubai-talk is equivalent to decades ago.

nzm said...

I guess that they had to get the royal approval for the channel that will go through Al Safa and Jumeirah (which will affect the residents of these areas) as it gets dug towards "The Gulf". :-)

If Sheikh Mohammed says that it's ok, then no one can argue!

The digging machinery has been sitting behind the Metropolitan Hotel for about 6 months now, waiting for the chance to rip into Al Safa Park and out towards the sea again.

Maybe this is why the Umm Suqeim project was nixed because Sheikh Mohammed thought that 2 projects ripping up the beach might be too much for his citizens to bear.

Although you can't tell me that nothing's happening off Umm Suqeim - take a look out to sea - there's a small drilling platform taking samples along the beach, and 2 humungous work ships moored off there at the moment.

John B. Chilton said...

My initial thought was the same as Buj's. We have bottlenecks now at the Creek bridges. Do we really won't to extend that problem? Itihad airline will be glad -- even more Jumerians will turn tail and go to Abu Dhabi for flights out of the country.

As far as the proper name for the Persian/Arabian Gulf, the irony is that the name Persian has stuck because it's the name the US and the UK and other European countries use. Just to be provocative and contrary I much prefer Arabian Gulf.

B.D. said...

The problem with the original Creek crossings is that there were only three, with several main routes being funnelled into them. With the Safa-Jumeirah creek extension this won't be an issue. There are only 3 through routes at present (SZR, Al Wasl & Jumeirah Beach Rd) all of which will have bridges. Temporary construction issues aside, a canal of that scope will be a very nice addition to the city.

Anonymous said...

What real benefit will there be?

Is this Dubai's answer to global warming? Lower the sea-level by 3 inches to combat future high tides?

That is vision!!

B.D. said...

It means one more nice attraction, for tourists and residents alike. Hop on a boat in Deira and cruise in a full-loop through the city and back to where you started. The RTA also intends to use this for water taxis. It will add to your transport options. Hopefully the RTA will have an integrated fee structure where you could use a single card for metro, bus and water taxi.

Have you ever taken the abras across the creek? It is such a pleasant way to get around. They also plan green space along the banks of the new extension, so it would be like an extension to Safa and Jumeirah parks. I see this is great all around.

Anonymous said...

The main reason for this is probably to prevent stagnant water in the new creek extension. It has to be done otherwise the whole place will start to stink, etc, like I've heard is already happening on the jumeirah palm.

BuJ said...

Interesting thoughts Mr Chilton with regards to the names of the Gulf.

I've always thought of it as the Arabian gulf or just the Gulf but then no surprise as I was educated in an Arab system in school, and am an Arab myself.

However one has to look at things from perspective. It's been called Persian by non Arabs and that's how history has documented it. It's a bit like the Irish sea, no one calls it the british sea even though the coastline of britain is longer.. but britain is also bigger..

the arab world is huge compared to iran.. and we have many seas.. i don't see them calling the med, the red, and the atlantic the arabian sea/oceans.. it's not an issue.

since iran has mainly one gulf (at least at the south) then it makes sense (from a global perspective) to call it the persian gulf because to someone from latin america they might probably be able to pin point it better than if u said arabic gulf.

it would be curious to measure the arab v persian coastline.. i think the arabian would win.. i'm talking natural coastline (including places like bahrain and qatar) but excluding minor islands and dubai's adventures. it's simple geometry.. the circle with the largest radius has the longest circumfurence :)

anyway.. back to the main topic.. me thinks this will create a nightmare in dubai.

it was be looked at in 50 or 100 yrs as a headache in terms of transport and sewage/stagnation of water and you might even hear plans in the future (after we're gone) to fill it all up.. and old families would lay claim to their possessed lands.

i'm voting no. not that anyone's counting!

Anonymous said...

b.d. - create two years of hell so people can have a nice trip on an abra.

It will not make the tiniest dent in the traffic (yes - we can all imagine taking a leisurely abra to the creek (where most of the population don't work), will cost Dh1bn and now we have to endure them rebuilding three main arterial roads to allow the creek to pass under.

It's a nightmare prospect. Dubai planning is getting less and less logical by the second.

Bus lanes, carpool lanes, quadruple the number of buses and routes along with the metro and an increase in taxis will go 10 times further down the line to solving the problem. At less than half the cost.

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