The end of The World?
One of Dubai’s iconic island developments is sinking back into sea after being scuppered by financial crisis, according to the UK Daily Mail.
The World, a man-made archipelago designed to resemble a map of the planet, is sinking, a tribunal heard last week.
The development, two kilometres from the mainland, is all but vacant after investors who bought up its ‘nations’ saw their finances collapse after the economic crash.
A company that ferries people to the islands is now seeking to withdraw from its contract with Nakheel, developers of The World, due to a lack of business and the erosion of the islands’ sands.
Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, a British lawyer for Penguin Marine, told a property tribunal the islands are "gradually falling back into the sea".
The tribunal found for Nakheel, with full reasoning to come later.
A spokesman for Nakheel insisted the islands are not sinking
“Our periodical monitoring survey over the past three years didn’t observe any substantial erosion that requires sand nourishment,” a statement said.
NASA photographs appear to back up the claim that the islands of The World are deteriorating.
According to Nasa’s Earth Observatory website: "Little to no infrastructure development of The World is apparent.”
The NASA photographs appear to show the islands are rapidly merging together.
The Daily Mail said The World has already experienced its fair share of problems, with the businessman who bought the Ireland residence committing suicide after the collapse of his company while a London businessman who paid £43million for the Britain island was jailed in Dubai for seven years last year for bouncing cheques.
According to Nakheel, 70 per cent of The World’s 300 islands have been sold, but most of the development plans have been halted by the financial crisis.
Only one of the islands – Greenland – is inhabited, and that is a showpiece owned by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
The claims of the erosion of The World comes as a Reuters poll showed Dubai’s house prices are set to fall by another 10 percent over the next two years.
Property prices in the emirate have fallen 58 percent from their peak in the fourth quarter of 2008
Ian Jarrett
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