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LIVE THE EIGHTH WONDER
By Bin Smalley

The largest man-made islands in the world are beginning to rise from the clear blue waters of the Arabian Gulf. Construction began last October and already part of the The Palm, Jumeirah - the first of two palm tree-shaped islands being built off the coast of Dubai - has been raised to three metres above sea level.
The resort islands will provide a major boost to Dubai's already booming tourism industry and the Al Habtoor Group has become the second major hotel operator to announce plans to build a hotel on The Palm, Jumeirah.
The group's Metropolitan Hotels division, which operates five star hotels in Dubai, Beirut and London, will add to its portfolio of upmarket properties with the new project on the island, which is being constructed off the Jumeirah coast opposite the recently established Dubai Internet City.
The new hotel will be based on 'The Crescent', an outlying barrier reef designed to act as a breakwater and protect the island. At just over 11 kilometres long and 200 metres wide, 'The Crescent' will host up to 40 themed hotels, with each reflecting a different national or ethnic theme - such as Greek, Balinese, Brazilian and Floridian.
Khalaf Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, said: "We are extremely pleased with our acquisition of one of the prime plots at The Palm, Jumeirah. Being one of the first to confirm our plot reflects our belief in the promising future of the tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates."
Mr Al Habtoor praised His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, who conceived the idea for the islands as part of a strategy to encourage foreign tourists to visit Dubai.
"We will contract international resort consultants to propose unique design concepts for our new hotel in keeping with the exclusive style of this project," he added.
Guests will reach 'The Crescent' by boat, adding to the excitement of a holiday on The Palm, Jumeirah, with sandy beaches around the breakwaters providing holidaymakers with a tranquil environment in which to relax and enjoy one of the next modern wonders of the world.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai Palm Developers, welcomed the Al Habtoor Group's decision to open a new hotel on the island, which was announced just 10 days after hotel plots were officially released for sale on 'The Crescent.'
"The Al Habtoor Group's confirmation that they are to build a major new property on 'The Palm, Jumeirah' follows the announcement from Kempinski at last year's Arabian Travel Market, who were the first to commit to this extraordinary project," he said. "This latest commitment, within the first 10 days, is testimony to the tremendous response that we have enjoyed following the release of the hotel plots.
"We are in serious discussions with several other major hotel groups and have received strong indications from an additional six investors/hotel operators, who have expressed a desire to conclude deals in the coming days."
While the first island is already taking shape, plans and mobilisation are at an advanced stage for the second island - The Palm, Jebel Ali - which will be built 15km away from the first, just to the south west of Jebel Ali Port and 10km from the Abu Dhabi border.
Each island will be 6km in length and 5.5km wide and collectively add almost 120km of new, sandy coastline to Dubai - an increase of 166 percent. Each is being built in the shape of a palm tree - consisting of 17 'fronds' and a 'trunk', with a protective barrier reef - and, although they will be almost identical in shape, each island will have its own distinct character.
"The Palm, Jumeirah will be a retreat - a quiet, serene and safe haven for living, relaxation and leisure with a gentle canal flowing through its trunk providing additional water frontage and further enhancing the peaceful ambience of the island," Mr bin Sulayem explained.
"The Palm, Jebel Ali, on the other hand, will be developed as a destination - a place of discovery, fun, excitement, activity and entertainment. Its trunk will have a 'Sea Village' theme, which will include a water theme park featuring killer whales, dolphins and aquariums in addition to other themed entertainment around the Sea Village concept."
Each 'Palm' will be connected to the mainland by a 300 metre bridge from which visitors' cars will be guided into large underground car parks. They will then be able to board a state of the art monorail system to whisk them to their destination on the island.
There will also be two marinas on each Palm, with berthing for up to 400 yachts, from where guests staying at any of the 40 hotels planned for each of the island's 'Crescents' will be able to catch a shuttle boat to their outlying resort.
The trunks of the islands will be home to a wide range of leisure and retail facilities - including shopping malls, health spas, restaurants, cinemas and a golf course - while approximately 3,000 homes will be built on the fronds of each island, including apartments, terraced houses and luxury villas.
The prices of residential propertieshomes on Frond B of 'The Palm, Jumeirah' have now been announced, and vary range from 1,700,000 dirhams for a three bedroom 'Canal Cove Town House', to 4,650,000 dirhams for a five bedroom villa.
Property can be bought by expatriates as well as nationals, with purchasers able to choose from 28 different architectural styles for the villas - ranging from traditional Arabian to modern European, Mediterranean to Oriental - with the five bedroom option coming on a 13,000 sq ft plot with its own 130ft long private beach, a swimming pool and mooring for a yacht or speedboat.
"The Palm are intended for all people who love and value ocean-front living," Mr bin Sulayem said. "Life by the sea has its special attractions and charms, and The Palm will provide an opportunity to live the eighth wonder and to truly experience the extraordinary.
"UAE and GCC nationals will find The Palm an enticing place to live, while the international business community, rather than paying large sums of rent and never owning a property, can now avail of the opportunity to own their own piece of land under the sun and by the beach. Equally, tourists will find the combination of what The Palm will offer, along with all the delights of Dubai, an irresistible combination."
Mr bin Sulayem confirmed that The Palm, Jumeirah is ahead of schedule with the entire island expected to be completely raised out of the sea by August 2003, after which work will begin on the infrastructure and buildings, with the first occupation foreseen by the end of 2004. The Palm, Jebel Ali will be ready for occupation approximately a year later.
He said that nearly 25 per cent of the total 3.8 million cubic metres of rock placement and nearly 20 per cent of 91.5 million cubic metres of reclamation work are already complete on The Palm, Jumeirah with sand dredgers and barges carrying giant boulders from quarries around the UAE working around the clock to build the island.
"Execution of this unique, colossal, visionary The Palm concept presents equally unique challenges," Mr bin Sulayem said. "While the individual elements of the development have all been accomplished before, they have not been attempted in combination on such a scale and magnitude. The concept is entirely unique and all subsequent, similar developments will necessarily be copies of the Dubai enterprise."
One of the biggest considerations has been to design the islands in an environmentally conscious way to preserve the Dubai coastline's marine eco-systems.
"Environmental concerns are absolutely and emphatically important to the project and the marine environmental factors involved had to be 100 percent secured before the go-ahead was given," Mr bin Sulayem said. "The safety and preservation of marine life, the quality of water available to residents and visitors, sewerage and other issues are all being addressed with great care and concern."
He added: "Construction in the ocean is not necessarily a negative environmental activity. Marine biologists are one of the many specialist consultants to be in evidence during the development of the islands.
"Generally, construction creates a new habitat which attracts many species of fish and birds - as has been witnessed already in the construction carried out to date on the crescent breakwater of the The Palm, Jumeirah. We fully expect the reclamation of the islands will enhance the local wildlife population, including tropical fish."
The sheer size and scale of The Palm means the islands will be visible from space - it is quite simply an out-of-this world project.