The Palms Dubai – Ghost town?

We ran a photo series recently on the Palms Dubai development. And something came to our attention that we hadn’t really noticed when we’d been researching the article – there are no people in the photographs. Now that could have been just a factor of timing, but further research has shown that somewhere in the region of 90 % of the development has been sold to property speculators who have no intention of living there. Whilst this is certainly an ambitious project, we do wonder what the long term effects both on the local marine wildlife and also the human immigrants, if any.

Palm Jumeirah

The Palm Jumerah consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometer-long breakwater. The island itself is 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers. It will add 78 kilometers to the Dubai coastline. The first phase of development on the Palm Jumeirah will create 4,000 residences with a combination of villas and apartments over the next 3 to 4 years.

Residents began moving into their Palm Jumeirah properties at the end of 2006, five years after land reclamation began, according to project developer Nakheel Properties. This signaled the end of phase one of construction, which includes approximately 1,400 villas on 11 of the fronds of the island and roughly 2,500 shoreline apartments in 20 buildings on the east side of the trunk.

According to Nakheel Properties officials, the process of adding 78 kilometers of beach is under way, while eight of the 32 hotels on The Palm Jumeirah have begun construction, including the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, which is planned for completion in late 2008 or early 2009. The first phase of Atlantis, The Palm, is scheduled to be completed by December 2008.

The “Golden Mile”, the strip of land located along the center of the trunk overlooking the canal, is set for completion in the first quarter of 2008. Construction has also begun on the Palm Monorail, which will take three years to complete and will serve as a transit system between the Gateway Station at the trunk of The Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis Station on the crescent. (Emirates News Agency, WAM)

On the Palm, construction workers have had to strengthen the sand base after a number of properties fell into the sea.

The Palm, Jebel Ali

The Palm, Jebel Ali began construction in October 2002 and is expected to be completed in mid 2008. The Jebel Ali is expected to accommodate 250,000 people and once it has been completed it will be encircled by the Dubai Waterfront project. The project, which will be 50 percent larger than the Palm Jumeriah, will include six marinas, a water theme park, ‘Sea Village’, homes built on stilts above the water, and boardwalks that circle the “fronds” of the “palm” and spell out an Arabic poem:

Take wisdom from the wise

It takes a man of vision to write on water

Not everyone who rides a horse is a jockey

Great men rise to greater challenges

Palm Diera

The Palm Deira was announced for development on October 2004 and completion is expected in 2015, when it will become the largest of the three Palm Islands with 41 fronds. Projections indicate that construction will consume over a billion cubic meters of rock and sand. According to the company Ten Real Estate, “The Palm Deira will cover 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) in length and 8.5 kilometers (5.3 miles) in width and have an area of 80 square kilometers (861 million square feet). It will consist of residential property, marinas, shopping malls, sports facilities, and clubs. The residential area will be located on the fronds and will contain 8,000 two-story town houses in three distinct styles – Premier Villas, Grand Villas and Vista Town Homes”