Dubai Developments and Projects

Property developments in Dubai have seen a major influx in terms of government funds and private investment over the past few years. Due to its no-tax policies and some highly prestigious firms establishing offices in Dubai there is a steady stream of people from all over the world coming to Dubai every year in order to enjoy the above-average lifestyle and good working conditions that it has to offer.

The finally thrust to property developments in Dubai was provided in 2002 when foreign nationals were permitted to own property in the UAE. This resulted in massive public works that were meant to give a base to the UAE economy that was no solely dependant on oil trade.
The World Islands is one of the most remarkable results of property developments in Dubai. The World Islands are collection of man-made islands that are shaped into the continents of the world. This projected will be carried out just off the coast of Dubai.

Also referred to as simply "The World", the project will involve the construction of approximately 250 to 300 smaller privately owned artificial islands. These will be divided into categories such as private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands.

Slated for completion in 2008, each of these private islands will have an approximate land area of 250-900 thousand square feet (23 to 83 thousand square meters). Each island will be separated by 50-100 meters of water. The total area covered by the World will be 5.4 miles (9 kilometers) in length and 3.6 miles (6 kilometers) in width.

The entire arrangement will be surrounded by an oval shaped breakwater with only marine and air transport available between the islands. The cost of these private islands is expected to start at around $6 million with an average cost $25 million per island. The entire World project is estimated to cost around $1.8 billion.

Oqyana is the Arabic word for "oceanic". Within The World, Oqyana will be made up of 19 islands. These 19 islands will cover the real world islands of Australasia (Australia and New Zealand). Oqyana was started by Investment Dar, a Kuwait-based company and is expected to finish construction by 2012.

Oqyana will cover an area of 1.87 million square miles (about 20 million square feet). Out of this the total land area will be 4.5 million square feet. This land area will be used to construct over 1,650 sea-view apartments and mansions, 90 water homes, 170 canal homes, a marina with 1,500 private yacht berths, two hotels, and one spa resort.

The total cost of building Oqyana is estimated at US$ 3.5 billion.