Palm Islands and The World
Among greatest tourist attractions and the greatest projects carried out and planned recently in Dubai are undoubtedly the Palm Islands - Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira. The Palm Islands are artificial islands in a shape of a palm tree and topped with a crescent that also serves as a large breakwater. The Palm Jumeirah construction of which started in 2001 has been completed in October 2007, the Palm Jebel Ali which will be twice as big as the Palm Jumeirah and encircled by Dubai Waterfront is still under construction as well as the Palm Deira that will be 5 times larger than the Palm Jebel Ali. The Palm Islands were announced to be completed in 10 to 15 years but the construction might take longer because of the global financial crisis.
All tree artificial islands shaped like palm trees are being constructed by Nakheel
Properties, a real estate developer who hired Dutch contracting company Van Oord
which is specialized in dredging and land reclamations, and Belgian company Jan De
Nul. The Palm Islands will serve as residential and entertainment centers and will
add about 520 kilometers (323 niles) of beaches to the city of Dubai.
Besides the Palm Islands Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the construction of an archipelago of 300 islands in a shape of the world map in 2003. The World has been completed on January 2008, while commercial and residential works are being conducted on purchased islands. The archipelago is located four kilometers (2,5 miles) of the coast of city of Dubai and is surrounded by an oval breakwater.