In a Dubai courtroom 11 years ago, a lawyer representing Nakheel, the state-run developer, faced accusations that its most ostentatious project was “dead”. Subsequent newspaper headlines gleefully warned: “Dubai fears end of The World”.
The collection of 300 man-made islands off the Gulf coast, arranged to resemble a world map and surrounded by a 27km breakwater, was announced in 2003 and intended to be the ultimate trophy real-estate project. Soon sand was being dredged, the islands began to appear and a bidding frenzy ensued; in a 2006 publicity stunt Richard Branson posed on the island representing Britain wearing a Union Jack suit.
But then came the global financial crisis, bringing the ambitious emirate into recession. Legal wrangles consumed the city. Work on the World Islands stopped but the Nakheel lawyer insisted the project wasn’t dead, only merely like a patient in a “coma” — implying that it would, in time, wake up and be successful.
Now, a decade on, that seemingly optimistic appraisal is closer to coming true. In line with Dubai’s rollercoaster history, the city’s services-and tourism-oriented economy is back on the way up, buoyed first by an influx of wealthy people thanks to the United Arab Emirates’ successful handling of the pandemic and, more recently, a flood of rich Russians seeking a financial haven. In December, the artificial archipelago got its first hotel: a five-star resort operated by Anantara that sits on the island representing Argentina and offers 70 beachfront villas with panoramic views of Dubai’s skyscraper-strewn skyline.
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