Dubai is so much more than a tourist destination at the beach: it is the biggest construction zone of the world, an awesome human experiment of forced urbanization and will be host of the biggest man made world records in 2008 , Ambitious mixed-use urban developments featuring luxury residences, hotels and office blocks, huge shopping malls and imaginative entertainment complexes are rapidly changing the face of Dubai emirate and are putting the Dubai property market on the world stage. The catalyst for much of this expansion was the emirate’s decision to allow non-nationals to purchase freehold property. In addition, the emirate is developing major commercial and industrial zones such as Jebel Ali Airport City. All of this unprecedented expansion necessitates a virtual reworking of the emirate’s infrastructure.

Nakheel’s development of The Palm, Jumeirah and The Palm, Jebel Ali. These are massive man-made islands in the shape of a palm linked to the mainland by a bridge. Reclamation work is also progressing rapidly on The Palm, Deira. This, the last of the three ambitious residential island projects, is connected to mainland Dubai by a stretch of reclaimed land close to Al Hamriyah Port. Reclamation is also well under way on The World project. Due for completion in 2008, this cluster of 300 artificial islands in the shape of the seven continents is located 4 kilometers off the coast between Burj Al Arab and Port Rashid.

Total investment by Nakheel in Dubai’s booming property sector, including the above projects, Jumeirah Islands, International City, Ibn Battuta Mall and Discovery Gardens, exceeds Dh92 billion to date. This is set to increase dramatically in the near future since Nakheel has been working on a spectacular new project for over a year: a new company, Dubai Waterfront (DWC), has been launched to develop an 81-million-square-meters, water-themed, mixed-use destination 35 kilometers south west of Dubai City on the border with Abu Dhabi. Up to 750,000 people will live in Dubai Waterfront’s ten districts or diversified zones incorporating 250 master-planned communities and a downtown area, Madinat Al Arab. The first phase will take five years to complete, commencing in 2006. Unlike other Dubai projects where the government has been involved in developing roads, power and water facilities, Dubai Waterfront’s basic infrastructure will be developed by DWC.

When it is completed in 2020 Dubailand will have 279 million square meters of facilities, including 50 themed entertainment, retail, and sports parks, double the size of Disneyworld. It will house 300,000 residents and cater to more than 200,000 visitors daily. The first phase of the Dh50 billion project will be opened in 2008. In the meantime, the Dubai government is investing more than Dh3 billion in infrastructure.

Groundwork on Dubai Sports City (DSC), the world’s first integrated purpose built sports city and a major component of Dubailand, commenced in mid-2005. DSC encompasses 46.5 million square meters of sporting facilities, four stadia, sports academies, residential and commercial real estate, hotels, entertainment outlets, international schools, a medical Center and a shopping mall. The total development cost for the DSC component of Dubailand will be Dh7.34 billion.

In 2005, Dubai Development and Investment Authority (DDIA), the promoters of Dubailand, signed an agreement to set up the Dh5.5 billion ‘Falcon City of Wonders’. The falcon-shaped project is spread over an area of 4 million square meters and is divided into five overlapped phases, with the first phase commencing in the first quarter of 2006. Falcon City of Wonders will contain commercial, residential, educational, entertainment and leisure amenities built as replicas of famous international attractions such as the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Plans for Dubailand’s Dh7.2 billion ‘City of Arabia’ were unveiled in April 2005. The development will include a 930,000-square-meter mall, a dinosaur theme park inhabited by 100 life-size animatronic dinosaurs, a cluster of towers and residential and commercial areas. The 46,500-square-meter ‘Restless Planet’, set to open in 2008, will be developed in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of London.

It was also announced in 2005 that work will commence in 2006 on the region’s most extensive themed resort to date. ‘Aqua Dunya’, costing Dh7 billion to develop, will cover an area of 744,000 square meters. Opening in 2008, it will have over 36 wet and dry rides, adventure islands, a luxury hotel in the form of a cruise ship and 3400 residential apartments.