So what did the astronauts in space say when they looked down on earth and saw a giant palm tree? They were probably amazed and pondered as to what it could have been. It is doubtful, though, that they thought it was the newest in luxury living that our world has to offer. The Palm Island Resort is the largest of the three palm islands (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, and Palm Diera). It is located about 1 mile off the Deirah Costal area of the emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The building of the Palm Deira was announced in October 2004 and is scheduled for completion in late 2006.
This man-made island structure will cover 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) in length and 8.5 kilometers (5.3 miles) in width and will have an area of 80 square kilometers (861 million square feet.) This island structure is being built from 80 million cubic meters (2.8 million cubic feet) of land dredged from the channel just outside the Emirate’s Jebel Ali Port, which is now being deepened to 17 meters (56 feet). So much land has been dredged up from the water’s bottom that the sand activity can be seen from the space photo of the bay.
The Palm Diera is one of several enormous projects in Dubai that is directed towards the expansion of the tourist industry in the area. Dubai’s government predicts that European tourism, through these palm island projects, will increase to about 15 million visitors annually by 2010. When completed, this incredible resort will include approximately 1200 single-family private beachfront homes, 600 multi-family residences, and aquatic theme park, shopping malls, cinemas, sports facilities, marinas, and clubs. For more information just google Palm Islands and you can check it out for yourself.
