Proof that Dubai has more money that it can spend

update: Like this post? You'll love: Picture/Report: Dubai to build world's largest arch bridge by 2012


Yep, that's one big man-made island. The AP reports:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With 14,000 laborers toiling day and night, the first of Dubai's three palm-shaped islands is finally about to get its first residents.

The Palm Jumeirah, a 12-square-mile island group, is part of what's billed as the largest land-reclamation project in the world, the product of five years of brute hauling of millions of tons of Persian Gulf sand and quarried rock.

On Nov. 30, the palm will open to some 4,000 residents, said Issam Kazim, a spokesman for Dubai's state-owned developer Nakheel.

When fully complete by 2010, the Palm Jumeirah will be an offshore city, with some 60,000 residents and at least 50,000 workers in 32 hotels and dozens of shops and attractions, Nakheel said.

...

Nakheel's four island projects, the world's largest land reclamation effort, are reshaping Dubai's stretch of the Gulf coast.

The $14 billion project is a key part of this booming city's ambitions to rival Singapore and Hong Kong as a business hub, and surpass Las Vegas as a leisure capital.

...

Reports from those who have wandered through the island's giant homes describe them as cheaply finished and set uncomfortably close to one another. Nakheel rejected an Associated Press request to visit the island. [full article.]

More Dubai links:

• The official website of the Palm Jumeirah project (great pics)
• Another Dubai Island project - this one shaped like a scaled map of the entire world
• Wikipedia's entry on Dubai
• Slideshow of Dubai construction pictures (including graphics for Dubai's tallest-tower-in-the-world project ... really, the pics have to be seen to be believed ... Dubai is one busy place).

Some amazing facts about Dubai from Wikipedia:

"Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world, one-third of the cranes in the world are currently being used to build in Dubai."

"A new project was announced on May 1, 2006 by the authorities. It is named Bawadi and will consist of a 27 billion US-dollar investment intended to increase Dubai's number of hotel rooms by 29,000, doubling it from the current figure offers now. The largest complex will be called Asia, Asia and will be the largest hotel in the world with more than 6,500 rooms."

"Expatriates of various nationalities have been pouring capital into Dubai in the past several years, greatly contributing to the city's prosperity. Iranian expatriates alone are estimated to have invested up to US-$ 200 Billion in Dubai."

"Emaar Properties is currently constructing what will become the world's tallest structure, the Burj Dubai. The final height of the skyscraper is a closely guarded secret - an indication of the developer's resolve to attain the title of the world's tallest building and its intention to hold on to it for as long as possible - but estimates so far point to a height upwards of 810m. Burj Dubai is expected to be completed in 2008. Burj Dubai's neighbour is another behemoth under construction: the world's largest shopping mall - the Dubai Mall."

If you want an example of the Arab world catching-up fast with the West, I give you Dubai.

It's the next New York.

Update: More on Dubai from the UK Daily Mail here.