SugarFree

Dubai plans city of 'wonders of the world' replicas

The Gulf emirate of Dubai will build a city of life-size replicas of seven wonders of the world at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion to house offices, shops and flats, a developer said Saturday.

The Falcon City of Wonders is the latest of a host of ambitious construction projects in the booming trade hub, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Three buildings will be modeled on structures that were part of the original list of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" -- the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Others will be replicas of more modern wonders -- the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China, a statement said.

The structures will house apartments, office space, hotels and shopping malls.

The project is led by the Falcon City of Wonders Company, owned by local businessman Salem al Moosa, a spokesman said. It is part of the multi-billion-dollar Dubailand development, a government-run project to help promote tourism.

There were no details on who would build Falcon City, when construction would begin or how long it would take to finish.

The spokesman said the estimated cost was 5.5 billion dirhams.

UAE property firm Benaa has been contracted to build a 6.5 billion dirham Golf City inside Dubailand, a large sprawl of desert next to Dubai on the Gulf coast.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050912/...DRpBHNlYwM3NTc

SugarFree

I guess this will make Dubai worth a visit.

Eklipse23

^
Agreed.

I wonder what is fueling this development. Dubai is going to be the Vegas of the Gulf.

Red4life

the money they got...they'll pull it off aswell!!!

imagine:
Taj Mahal without the yellow muck stuck to it and out of BhaRATs filth! the Pyramids of Giza, without the conning 'InshAllah' repeating tour guides around it Leaning Tower of Pisa that you can actually climb! wall of china without having to spend a fortune getting to and from it! etc etc!

all in one city! perfect!
i remember a wager i had with my big brother 5 years ago that Dubai will be the biggest tourist attracting city in the world by 2010! looks like im going to be right!

SugarFree

I guess they are becoming more aware of dwindling oil reserves and increasing research on alternative sources of energy. But I don’t think investing in tourism alone is the best idea. Middle East does not have a good reputation in the West and people are already reluctant to choose ME as their vacation spot although a limited number of westerners do go to ME every year. Imagine what a single explosion would do to an economy heavily dependent on tourism. It can very easily derail their economy. I think they should focus on other industries like manufacturing and high-tech industry while continuing to invest in tourism.

ek Ajnabee

I wonder how much will it cost to get the permit to build my JHOPARY in it.
Millions of people are dieing in hunger and they are planning to build another city to bring more gambler, zanakar, or ayaash log. Yeh kahan ka islam hai? Why are we forgeting that this all will stay here. We will only take our aamal with us. So help those who are in need, regardless of religion, and color even regardless of gender and age.

Stu

someone should take measures to ensure that the Taliban doesn't blow them up!

Stu

what are you saying bhaijan? Are you telling me I wouldn't be safe walking down mainstreet Dubai wearling my stars-n-stripes T-shirt and a backback adorned with a "support our troops" sticker?

there go my plans for x-mas vacation

underthedome

Dubai is so money, who wants to send me as Gupshup's ambassador?

PakistaniAbroad

well without the muck at least.. u can't get away from the mulloos even if you went to the moon.. they've infested the entire planet.. Dubai is a a second home to them.

TeenDabbyWala

I doubt they will be the real size duplicates of the original wonders. More like the outer part will resemble it, but the inside will be hotel and apartments.

Faisal

The zeal of Arab rulers to have grand buildings in their country is way out of control. When was the last time we heard Dubai to come forward in any kind of scientific breakthrough, research, engineering, innovation, bio-tech, semi-conductors, telecommunication, medicine, mathematics, physics, chemistry, even literature....? All they do is make grand buildings, be it Burj-al-Arab or be it life-size replicas of Seven wonders. I bet these will be designed by non-Arabs, and build by non-Arabs (for the most part). All people do is to look at these buildings and say "wah wah". Someone should smack these rulers really hard. Get their friggin' priorities straight.

TeenDabbyWala

More opportunities for desis!

Captain1

kewn bhai? those Arabs are just helping our funda-Christians-Jews brothers .... bring signs of Qayamat faster and earlier for us all.

Captain1

mere bhai, they are "secular"/"capitalists" now, "Islam" is history for them, or more like "its personal business between me and Allah". they want to mint money using money.

SugarFree

Foreigners form a big chunk of Dubai's population so I don't think you will have any problems wearing a stars-n-stripes T-shirt.. since ppl there are already used to foreign cultures, although I am not sure about the "support my troops" part. Mostly Americans live in protected communities, have their own private resorts, beaches and clubs. These places are inaccessible to the locals.

TeenDabbyWala

Why do they live in protected communities? I know you are referring to gated communities, not SWAT protected jail compounds. Why is it like that? To stop the desperate local youth from oogling at those blondes?

SugarFree

I guess thats because the American Embassy believes by letting their citizens live in unprotected coummunities they would be jeapordizing their safety. Where I come from, I would say roughly 40% of the population is foreign to the land. We have people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka, Phillipines, China why am I typing country names... mostly the foreign population is from Asia and as far as I know they dont live in gated communities.

As far as oogling at blondies goes... If you ever go to a mall in Dubai, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait or Qatar you will find arab gals equally beautiful [unless you have a fascination for blondies].

Masoomlarki

Dubai is already worth the visit dont you think.

Masoomlarki

trust me u wear what you want in dubai nobody notices. The arab men are too busy spending their money and their wives are too busy shopping with 4 assistants to carry all the baggage. And I dont think they think highly of foreigners anyhows. Its the pple who work out there i.e. from phillip'nes, pak and india etc that are very nice.