Arabian Canal
The Arabian Canal is a hydraulic engineering project started in 2008 in the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates . The project has been suspended since 2009 due to the tense financial situation in Dubai.
Idea and planning
Starting from the coast as part of the Dubai Waterfront project , the Arabian Canal is to initially turn south in a 75 km loop inland and after about 20 km laterally and repeatedly swing back north to the coast, to between in the Persian Gulf west the high-rise zone Dubai Marina and the seawater desalination plant . According to the plans of the project developer Limitless, around 1.5 million people are expected to settle in the approx. 140 square kilometers of the canal area, a number that can only be achieved through selective high densification and high-rise clusters in the vicinity of several sub-centers. The prepared areas intended for development are specified as 33 kilometers of bank length, predominantly in the southern transverse course.
The canal, which is planned without locks , will be between 75 m and 150 m wide and 6 m deep. It is primarily not a transport channel, but rather a landscaping water surface construction with a marketing background, similar to the artificial land and coastal reclamation projects directly off the coast. On the gently curved banks with a few lake-like bulges, thousands of bank properties are being built with direct access to the new waterway network being advanced in the emirate or in an equally attractive hillside location close to the water with a view.
The pure canal construction project should be completed by 2013, while the urban development and development of the newly created shore zones (up to 2 km terrain depth) and small islands are estimated to be another 15 years. Due to the financial crisis, this planning is no longer feasible over time. A special technical feature is a canal tunnel in the southwestern course of the canal, whereby a small hill barrier is to be driven under over a length of approx. 900 m. Numerous striking bridges and many sloping bank areas with gentle hill ends, some terraced building areas or boiler-like modeled steep bank edges are planned, on which even exposed properties are on offer.
Start of construction, construction progress
The end of July 2008 saw the first bid for the first section of the canal, which will cost a total of USD 11 billion. In October 2008, a section of the canal was already excavated on a trial basis, which was 700 meters long, 200 meters wide and up to 45 meters deep. More than 1.5 million cubic meters of earth were moved. The excavation of the entire canal is expected to amount to more than 1 billion cubic meters, with the material being used directly in the canal areas for landfill and varied terrain modeling.
At the end of September 2008, the contract for the first section of the construction, valued at USD 2.1 billion, was awarded. The section to be excavated is nine kilometers long and will require approximately 200 million cubic meters of excavation. The canal is up to 150 meters wide and six meters deep, enough to allow boats up to 60 meters in length after flooding. The excavated earth is partially piled up to form mounds up to 200 meters high. The first section with the surrounding area will then immediately be released for urbanization: around 600,000 people can already be settled here on the 2200 hectares of shore zones that have been created.
Critics of the project object that there are likely to be problems with the water quality in the canal sections further inland because there is no natural water supply apart from the lake.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Construction of Dubai's Arabian Canal commences ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Limitless to award canal contracts within weeks
- ↑ Contract for first phase of new Dubai mega-project awarded , September 30, 2008
