New US$11 billion Arabian canal planned for Dubai
by Des Ryan on 13 Oct 2007
Arabian Canal Route SW
Dubai is to go ahead with an US$11 billion (€7.8bn, £5bn) project to create a 75km man-made waterway, which will flow inland from Dubai Waterfront, passing to the east of the new Dubai World Central International Airport before turning back towards Palm Jumeirah.
Up to 150 metres wide and six metres deep, it will be able to accommodate boats up to 40m (131ft) long. The project will take around three years to complete, with work due to start in December this year.
Limitless, a unit of Dubai World, the government holding company that includes Dubai Ports World, will manage the design and construction of the Arabian Canal, described as the largest, most complex civil engineering project ever undertaken in the Middle East.
Saeed Ahmed Saeed, chief executive officer of Limitless, said: 'Arabian Canal — Dubai's most ambitious mega-project yet — draws on our key strengths of innovative engineering and master planning distinctive developments. It will involve digging and moving more than a million cubic metres of earth — enough to fill 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools — every day. Arabian Canal will, without question, be one of the wonders of the engineering world.
'The project will create life in the desert. It will be a globally-recognised landmark destination for UAE residents and visitors, with public spaces for leisure and community events as well as a number of mixed-use developments, in addition to the waterway itself,' he added.
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