‘The World’, an ambitious real-estate project comprising 303 man-made islands and resembling of the map of the world is all set to be the new playground of the rich and the famous. Being developed four kilometres off the coast of Dubai, ‘The World’ features private estates for the super rich, island resort facilities for luxury-seeking tourists and expensive housing units for those who can afford them.

The cost of building structures on the islets will be around $7.6 billion, according to Nakheel, the project’s developer. A massive transport system will link the islands and allow its inhabitants to move around. The general manager of ‘The World’ project, Hamza Mustafa has revealed that 35 percent of the islands have been sold. He said, “A total of 261 islands are ready and 87 percent of reclamation work has been completed”. DP World, which acquired British port and ferry conglomerate, P&O recently, may operate The World’s ferry services. There will be no cars on the development. Instead, the developer will operate 50-60 mainland ferries and 70-140 inter-island ferries. The four ‘Hub points’ will be the lifeline of the island cluster and they will facilitate inter-island movement in addition to connecting the islands with the mainland.

Resembling ‘big bus stations,’ the hubs will have police stations, post offices, fire stations, supermarkets and other community facilities. The project developer is expending $1 billion on land reclamation work which will be completed in the second quarter of 2008. Of the estimated $7.6 construction cost, Kuwait-based Efad Holding is spending $3.54 billion on its mixed-use Oqyana project. Spanning 15 islands, which is about 5 percent of the area, Oqyana is the single largest development within The World. Six percent of the total area has been earmarked for private estate, designated as a ‘low-density’ zone. Nakheel has not divulged the price tag for the island nor has it revealed the identities of private buyers.

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