The end of The World: Dubai island development sinks back into sea

The Daily Mail ^ | 1/24/2011 | DAILY MAIL REPORTER

[FromLori]

It exemplified the booming property market and ambition of Dubai’s entrepreneurs.

But after the global financial crisis led to the collapse of the emirate’s home-building market, a unique development known as ‘The World’ is reportedly facing Armageddon.

The project, a man-made archipelago designed to resemble a map of the planet, is facing disaster as its islands have begun sinking, a tribunal heard this week. The development, which sits a mile and a half from the mainland, is all but vacant after investors who bought up its ‘nations’ saw their finances collapse after the economic crash.

[certrtwngnut]

Maybe there are too many people on one side & it is tipping over. Islands do that you know.

[GonzoGOP]

all those rich and famous people buying in on the con. Bakshesh, you know.

Or the developer just ripped everyone off. When the French started to build the Panama canal they were able to get investors from all over the world. It didn't matter that their plan would never work or that the geology was completely against them. They were able to show dredges and steam shovels moving dirt so the investors kept thinking that everything was going to come up roses in the end. When the reality of the situation finally came out it collapsed the entire French and British economies.

The Americans did the geology that the French didn't and realized that in 1906 there wasn't enough explosives in the world to blast a path through the mountains. And that their was no way to plug up great tropical rivers in flood. So instead of the water level canal envisioned by the French we built a canal with locks and rather than trying to avoid the rivers the engineers used them to fill the upper basin.

Like all great engineering projects the geology of what is there now constrains what you can put there in the future. And no amount of government edicts or slick marketing can change that. Fortunately in this case it will just be a colossal waste of money. In many other cases where geology wasn't considered in the construction of dams and bridges people have paid with their lives instead of their wallets.

[marron]

On the Piers Morgan show, he interviewed a couple of guys who paid $50 million (dollars or pounds, don’t remember) for one of the islands. So, if its sinking, that would be an expensive problem.

[count-your-change]

At least until the checks clear the bank.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

For some reason this just makes me chuckle. they’ll spend billions in petro dollars to keep this joke afloat.

[dfwgator]

The should have had a Jewish engineer!

Remember what happened to the Jewish Engineer in Schindler's List, when she told the Germans that the foundation wasn't laid correctly.

[Vigilanteman]

I think some settling is normal for a decade or two after the artificial island is built. A good engineer plans that into the design. Over time, the settling should diminish but it will never completely go away.

Engineering and design quality plays a major role.

Why do you suppose some parts of the Appian Way, built by the Romans more than two millennia ago, are still in use but some highways built by PennDOT need to be resurfaced every other year?

[yldstrk]

That is hilarious

[DManA]

After posting that I remembered a sci-chan show on the airport. I recall the terminal was designed with foundations that can be extended to accommodate slight subsidence and still stay level. That thing is a marvel of engineering excellence.

In defense of PennDOT, the Romans didn’t have to design for freeze/thaw cycles and salt.

[Reeses]

Based on Google Earth, south of the Bahamas and north of Cuba, the Atlantic ocean is extremely shallow for hundreds of miles, less than 5 feet deep in places. Could artificial land be created in international waters for about $50,000/acre in dredging? Probably not but it's fun to think about building a new country based on the USA’s original founding principles. It would be a mecca for doctors fleeing Obamacare, a half hour flight from Florida.

[Vigilanteman]

LOL! Nice pipe dream. I think you would get into an international law quagmire with countries trying to extend off-shore jurisdictions beyond and even 300 mile limits.

There was actually a case similar with a guy who bought up a World War II vintage anti-aircraft platform just outside the territorial waters of the United Kingdom and started his own country. I don't remember the name of the country or the details, but he did get it upheld in international court at one time.

[jda]

From personal experience, the abuses are all too common in all Arab countries - it’s a travesty and no one seems to care.

[marron]

I remember at one time they were pushing the idea of locating computer servers out there for encoded, anonymous internet service. Beyond the reach of any kind of warrant.