The Palm Jebel Ali is an artificial archipelago, which began construction in October 2002 and was originally planned to be completed by mid 2008 though as of 2011 construction is on hold.[1] The project, which is 50 percent larger than the Palm Jumeirah, is proposed to include six marinas, a water theme park, 'Sea Village', homes built on stilts above the water, and boardwalks that circle the "fronds" of the "palm" and spell out an Arabic poem by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:[1]
Take wisdom from the wise
It takes a man of vision to write on water
Great men rise to greater challenges
Not everyone who rides a horse is a jockey
The breakwater was completed in December 2006, and infrastructure work began in April 2007.[2] Major construction will not begin until most of the infrastructure work is complete.[2] Following the financial crisis of 2008 work has been suspended and the developers, Nakheel, have confirmed no work would take place on the development in the near future.
One of the first buildings on The Palm Jebel Ali is already known. Nakheel invited several architects to design a building on a 300,000 m2 area. The winning design was a building by Royal Haskoning, who also worked on several other projects in Dubai.[3] The building can be seen here.
In the first signs of a slowing Dubai property market, the prices of properties being sold on the Palm Jebel Ali were reported to have fallen by 40% in the two months to November 2008, with the fall being attributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010.[4]. In March 2011 Nakheel offered refunds to property investors.
Once completed, The Palm Jebel Ali is expected to house more than 250,000 people.[5]
In the original schedule, by 2012, the first phase of four theme parks would have opened on the Crescent. These planned parks, which together will be called "World of Discovery," will be developed and operated by the Busch Entertainment Corporation. The parks include SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove. The World of Discovery will be located at the top of the Crescent, which will form into the shape of an orca (reminiscent of Shamu).[6][7]
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