As you may have heard, a company, Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates has been given the responsibility of running operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale. This is detailed in a dairy today by
georgia10
So, what's so special about the UAE and its ports operations? Well, in a word: PLENTY. The company, Dubai Ports World shares an Executive Chairman with another company called Nakheel. He is the Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, and he has a vision. A project the UAE is working real hard on these days.
Come...follow me to the UAE. I want to show you something.
The project, the Dubai Waterfront, is a conglomeration of canals and islands studded with luxury hotels and homes.
Larger than the island of Manhattan, the development will reconfigure the map of this tiny desert emirate by adding 500 miles of man-made waterfront, according to Nakheel, the government-held developer.
The Dubai Waterfront is expected to house 400,000 people and transform the last stretch of Dubai's undeveloped Gulf seashore. In a twist unique for Dubai, foreign investors are being offered a minority stake in one of the emirate's signature mega-projects. And American companies including hotel operators plan to be part of the deal.
The development, expected cost in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars, is aimed at capitalizing on Dubai's tourism and real estate boom.
Source
Imagine building North Carolina's Outer Banks. Not just the million dollar homes and resorts, but the islands themselves for billions of dollars. Destroying the surrounding ocean ecosystem in the process; completely in denial of the threat of Global Warming and the very real possibility of rising sea levels. And building these island in such a way that their design can only be understood by viewing them from thousands of feet in the air.
Behold! The Sultan's vision! Currently, the Palm Jumeirah(second one from the bottom) is the only one near completion. This is a Google Earth overlay of the Palm Island development plan off the coast of Dubai.
Nakheel has a portfolio of 14 developments which currently includes The Palm, The World, Jumeirah Islands, The Gardens, Ibn Battuta Mall, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeirah Golf Estates, The Lost City, International City, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Village and Dubai Waterfront.
Nakheel has US$30 billion worth of projects under development.
The Palm Islands, when complete, will be the largest three man-made islands in the world.
Source
My favorite is "The World."
The World is 300 islands, 4km of the coast of Dubai, located to form the shape of the world.
Imagine living on your own desolated sand pile. All supplies must be brought in by boat through dead waters, the coastal ecology destroyed by the massive dredging required to build your very own desert island. Now that's Luxury Isolation. Or as Nakheel's website boasts, "The perfect place to leave the world behind."
And die.
These artificial islands are no more that spectacular disasters waiting to happen. Rising sea levels or the occasional "convective activity" over the Persian Gulf might not destroy them anytime soon... but then there are the earthquakes. Like the one that hit Qeshm last year. A mere 130 miles away.
And if "The World" is Not (Ironic) Enough, there is Atlantis.
To be completed in late 2007 by Kerzner International on the Palm Jumeirah. This one's destined to sink just like the original.
Could disaster manufacturing get any more fabulous?
Absolutely!
Stand By, Earth Man.