In Teetering Dubai, A New Metro And World’s Tallest Building Are About To Debut (Photo Tour) [Re-post]

Oh, Dubai. Sometimes we wish you success, because you’re so funny. Other times we can’t wait till you run out of oil and just turn back into a desert wasteland, because you’re so gross.

Of late, the Gulf city-state has been trending somewhere between those two courses. They’ve shut down all kinds of massive half-baked construction projects, but are pushing ahead on a select few. Most notable in the “pushing ahead” category are the world’s tallest building and the city’s new metro system (exempted on the “half-baked” count). The powers that be in Dubai have been planning a grand simultaneous unveiling of the two in September, in fact — seeing it as a perfect opportunity to get massive amounts of media attention and declare to the world, “We’re still actin’ all rich!”

Sadly, there’s a hitch. Construction on the Burj Dubai, the 206-story luxury residential and office tower–space will supposedly go for $3,500/square foot and up–is running behind schedule, and will not be complete by September. So the metro–which features a “Gold class” section for “VIPs”–will debut alone and therefor won’t get anywhere close to as much media attention.