The World Has Stopped But They Can't Get Off
Dubai is a morbidly fascinating basket case. Just two years ago while boasting that their relatively small city was busy with a quarter of the world's construction cranes, they were seemingly high as kites on a mixture of oil profits and LCD. Nothing was impossible. Underwater hotels, the world's tallest buildings, ski resorts in the desert, artificial archipelagos. Whole cities that are constructed to look like birds from the space station.
halted at a mere 2625 feet
Most of those dreams have been put on hold or canceled completely because of the global economic meltdown. In fact with capital drying up and with thousands moving out the place is getting pretty seedy and former upscale neighborhoods have a little hint of sewage in the air. One of their grandiose plans was to reconstruct a map of the earth in the Arabian Gulf and have the fabulously rich move in, but the investors are now the proud owners of hazardous piles of muck.
Extravagant Dubai island project sinks under weight of the credit crunch
"THE Galwayman who bought Ireland is dead, England is deserted, while Australia and New Zealand have merged.
They were designed to make Dubai the envy of the world: a series of paradise islands inhabited by celebrities and the super-rich reclaimed from the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a map of the Earth. It was called The World.
As millions of tonnes of rock were dumped into the sea for the foundations, timely leaks suggested that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were to buy Ethiopia, Richard Branson was tipped to occupy England, while Rod Stewart would border him in Scotland.
Instead it has become the world's most expensive shipping hazard, guarded by private security in fast boats and ringed by warning buoys to keep the curious away.
A development that was meant to send Dubai's star into the firmament of First World cities has been left to the mercy of the waves and the baking winds.
Mile after mile of breakwater built from boulders brought hundreds of miles by ship has been laid, but inside its man-made lagoon, work has completely stopped.
The expected map of the world of 300 islands is instead a disjointed and desolate collection of sandy blots -- a monumental folly just out of sight of Dubai's shore."
"The World has been cancelled. It doesn't even look like the world. Basically there is one island that is maintained that is said to be owned by the Sheikh [Dubai's ruler] and the rest looks like a pile of muck," said one local property agent."
and I wanted Burkina Faso
halted at a mere 2625 feetMost of those dreams have been put on hold or canceled completely because of the global economic meltdown. In fact with capital drying up and with thousands moving out the place is getting pretty seedy and former upscale neighborhoods have a little hint of sewage in the air. One of their grandiose plans was to reconstruct a map of the earth in the Arabian Gulf and have the fabulously rich move in, but the investors are now the proud owners of hazardous piles of muck.
Extravagant Dubai island project sinks under weight of the credit crunch
"THE Galwayman who bought Ireland is dead, England is deserted, while Australia and New Zealand have merged.
They were designed to make Dubai the envy of the world: a series of paradise islands inhabited by celebrities and the super-rich reclaimed from the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a map of the Earth. It was called The World.
As millions of tonnes of rock were dumped into the sea for the foundations, timely leaks suggested that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were to buy Ethiopia, Richard Branson was tipped to occupy England, while Rod Stewart would border him in Scotland.
Instead it has become the world's most expensive shipping hazard, guarded by private security in fast boats and ringed by warning buoys to keep the curious away.
A development that was meant to send Dubai's star into the firmament of First World cities has been left to the mercy of the waves and the baking winds.
Mile after mile of breakwater built from boulders brought hundreds of miles by ship has been laid, but inside its man-made lagoon, work has completely stopped.
The expected map of the world of 300 islands is instead a disjointed and desolate collection of sandy blots -- a monumental folly just out of sight of Dubai's shore."
"The World has been cancelled. It doesn't even look like the world. Basically there is one island that is maintained that is said to be owned by the Sheikh [Dubai's ruler] and the rest looks like a pile of muck," said one local property agent."
and I wanted Burkina Faso
posted by nolocontendere at 4:22 AM
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