Dubai: the final frontier
Posted in science
The World Islands-the biggest man-made islands in the shape of the world’s map
If you ever wished the world was smaller your wish came true. Al Nakheel Properties or Nakheel Corp the creators of the Palm Island in the fascinating Dubai in the United Arab Emirates which amazed everyone with it’s incredible projects, began the largest project ever, in man-made islands in 2003 called “The World Islands” which is an archipelago in shape of the world’s continents consisting in 300 artificial islands.
The project unavailing was made in 6 May 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed. It was built primarily from sand dredged from the sea rock from quarries. Dredging began in September 2003 and by January 2008, 60% of the islands had been sold. On the 10th of January 2008 the last rock was laid in the breakwater.
Each island has the size in the range of 23,000 m2 to 84,000m²(250,000-900,000 square feet) with 50-100m of water between each island. The entire area is surrounded by an oval breakwater and has a length of 9km and a width of 6km. This archipelago is 4km from the land so the only way to get there is by boat of helicopter. Roughly 232 km (144 miles) of shoreline was created. The price for an island is between 15 and 50 million dollars and the overall cost of the project is 14 billion dollars making the average price of an island around 25 million dollars.
Many famous names revolve around this project, it is speculated that Brad Pitt and Angelina bought Ethiopia, Tommy Lee bought Greece for Pamela Anderson, Rod Stewart and David Beckham may have bought an island there but these are rumors. It is certain that Michael Schumacher was presented with an island by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the occasion of the final Grand Prix in Brazil.
Many other projects are being developed and built as time is only a small impediment so long as cash flows. Projects like: the biggest building in the world or the largest amusement park, the first underwater city are just the beginning of a new era of building and I personally think the future will be brighter and more challenging and we will be amazed of what the human mind has to offer.