First of Dubai's World islands set to open
The World, the troubled offshore island project off Dubai, will open its first island to the public later this year with the launch of a luxury beach resort, the local press, Arabian Business has reported.
The World Island Beach Club based on the supposed island of Lebanon is nearing completion.
Although most of the 300 man-made islands were sold by the Nakheel property development company, building work that was the responsibility of the buyers stalled after Dubai’s real-estate bubble burst and property prices fell 60% from their peak.
“We are the first commercial development on The World,” Reza Sinnen, operations manager of the World Island Beach Club, told Arabian Business.
The development includes a 100-seat restaurant, cabanas, a lounge area and entertainment facilities, and is owned by Indian entrepreneur Wakil Admed Azmi.
Membership to the beach club could cost up to AED40,000 (A$10,300) a year and – with a pontoon that can accommodate up to 25-metre yachts – the company is keen to tap the lucrative yachting community.
“We want to run weekend events with promoters, not en masse but for people who have yachts… People around 35 to 40. Like a private club where you are known by name. I also think event and functions and launches will be a major attraction to the island,” Sinnen says.
“We have already had an enquiry from one individual who wanted the island for himself on the 31st of December, so we are definitely going to do a [New Year’s Eve] night there.”
Azmi bought Lebanon in 2008, when he saw the plunge in construction costs that accompanied the downturn as an opportunity to press ahead with building, Sinnen says.
The cost of the island and the construction work has hit AED60 million (A$15.5 million), he says.
“[Azmi] is doing everything himself and has cut down the cost of construction by nearly 70%. He project-managed himself,” says Sinnen, who estimated another AED8 million (A$2 million) would need to be invested to complete the resort in time for the opening in late 2011.
Almost all buyers on the project have failed to begin work, with the exception of work carried out by Kleindienst Group, the developer behind the six-island Heart of Europe Project.
Nakheel has said 70% of the 300 man-made islands are sold and that building work is the responsibility of the owners.
Earlier this year, Arabian Business reported that five islands on The World were up for sale at cut-price rates from owners looking to offload the land.
