stretching five and a half kilometers into the Arabian Gulf lies the most audacious engineering project the world has ever seen Palm Jumeirah is so vast it can be seen from space built only from sand and rock threatened by earthquakes violent storms and erosion from the sea it's remarkable that Palm Jumeirah exists at all if God had wanted an island in the shape of a palm tree in the ocean he to put one here engineers must race against time and battle constantly with the forces of nature this is a mega structure they thought could never be built bogus 2001 the arabian gulf is a massive activity dubai is building one of the biggest man-made islands in the world Engineers have a daunting task ahead of them because this is a construction like no other all structures stand in defiance of nature most are built from concrete and steel materials that are artificially strengthened but this massive island is being constructed out at sea using only natural materials sand and rock and both start eroding the moment they hit the water for project manager Bob burger it's a daunting task any construction is in defiance to nature and this is an extreme example of that everyday we're trying to prevent the destruction of what we built in the Middle East Dubai the jewel of the Arab world a kingdom built on the profits of its oil reserves this tiny emirate twice the size of London is one of the richest places in the Arab world but it hasn't always been like this 50 years ago Dubai was a trading town built on a creek [Music] over half a century later it's been transformed now it's famous for gold trade and oil but there's a problem on the horizon by 2016 the oil will have run out it'll mean disaster for the economy Dubai must find a new source of income the crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has a two billion dollar plan to save his country he saw that his kingdom to transform itself into the world's number one luxury tourist destination and the crown prince has a history of getting what he wants to put to buy on the map he's already built one of the most luxurious hotels in the world the Burj Al Arab created top-class Gulf and racecourses as planning the world's tallest building but now the crown prince's big idea is mass tourism Dubai seems the perfect spot it offers Sun almost every day of the year glorious beaches and Azure seas five million tourists visit here annually now they want to triple this to 15 million but there's a problem the coastline is a mere 72 kilometers long not enough space for all these extra people but how do you make your coastline longer the crown prince's plan is to build a massive island and he wants it done by 2006 this daunting task falls Sultan Ahmed bin Saleh on starting with a blank piece of paper he draws a circular island he's delighted it increases the coastline by 7 kilometers but for the crown prince it's nowhere near enough he looked at it was a circular island which gave us about 7 kilometers of beaches and he said one at 70 kilometers it's back to the drawing board this time the Crown Prince works on the design himself pulling it about to increase the beach front nothing seems right but then he comes up with an audacious plan what better for a paradise island in the shape of a palm tree five and a half kilometers across it increases the coastline by a whopping 56 kilometres nine times more beachfront in the circular island but no one has ever built an island this size and shape before when I first heard of this project I couldn't believe it I thought it's incredible the extraordinary plan is to build a city at sea the palm will be covered with luxury villas shopping malls and restaurants the crescent-shaped breakwater linked to the palm bar tunnel will hold 22 hotels the easiest way to build such a massive structure at sea is to use concrete and steel but this doesn't fit with the crown prince's plans his idea creates an added challenge to blend in with its surroundings the island must be made entirely from natural materials the palm shaped island will only be made from sand 94 million cubic meters of it boom that protects this from the sea will be a breakwater 5.5 million cubic meters of rock together there's enough sand and rock to build a two and a half meter high wall circling the entire world this may be the only place in the world where something like this could be done to have the vision and then the courage to carry it through to make this audacious plan a reality Dubai needs the best engineers on the planet a worldwide search leads to northern Europe and Holland experts in land reclamation the Dutch have increased Holland's landmass by 35% the Dutch team are immediately booked for the job the first thing they must prove is that it's possible to build an island out in the Arabian Gulf and that it'll stay there they know the only way to keep the island in position is to surround it by a breakwater but just how big does the sea defense need to be to find out researchers must calculate the strength of device storms the height of the waves and tidal surges and what effect global warming will have in raising the sea level the biggest fear for all coastal engineers are massive freak waves these waves build up over long distances pushed by persistent winds and large currents they destroy nearly everything in their path but the island builders are lucky the research team has worked out that the arabian gulf is the perfect place to build this mega structure on average the gulf is only 30 meters deep and it's only 160 kilometers wide it's too short and too shallow for catastrophic waves to build up but the team know they will get Shamal storms every winter these intense northerly storms bring high winds and 2 meter waves that will batter the structure The Searchers must also factor in the worst case scenario the storm that hits once in a hundred years the team do the final calculations to protect this fragile island the breakwater must be at least three meters high above the waves and eleven and a half kilometers long but just when the engineers thought they were ahead they're given another challenge the developers in charge of this mega structure want to start construction immediately before the research is complete it's a huge gamble that could come back to bite them if they haven't got it right the whole structure might be washed away as well as starting before they're ready the engineers must perform a miracle normally a project like this would take 15 years to build but they must do it in five before work can begin the engineers must first work out just where this awesome creation should be built the job Falls to one man project manager Bob burger of course one of the problems we have working in the sea is that there's no place to put steaks don't know where this project is gonna go so what we did we were requested by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed to know where this island is going to be we marked off the center of our plot I stood there the very first one right in the edge of the water my arms down the beach each way close my eyes this is the center line of the project an engineer put stakes in that line and that became the center point of the entire project just like that overs 2001 the breakwater construction team take to the sea they've only two years to build this massive 11 and a half kilometre seawall but just as they get started disaster strikes September the 11th 2001 the World Trade Center in New York is attacked in a brutal act of terrorism overnight tourism to the Middle East stops but work has already started on the palm island well millions of dollars and months of research all be in vain September 2001 in the wake of terrorist attacks in the United States travel abroad halts abruptly fear and panic spread people are too frightened to travel particularly to the Middle East it could have disastrous consequences for Dubai's ambitious plans work has already begun on building one of the biggest man-made structures in the world a giant palm shaped island that will transform to buy into a world-class holiday destination the massive 11 and a half kilometre breakwater is under construction both the breakwater team in the palm island team are assembled to make the dream a reality but 9/11 throws the plans into turn the 1200 foreign engineers fear their lives could be in danger they make contingency plans to leave the country in the meantime they're advised not to go into Western hotels and bars business slopes beaches are empty restaurants deserted no one wants to be here for three months Dubai grinds to a halt the Sun is setting on the Middle East's tourist industry but the jobless carry on whatever the political climate the oil reserves are running out the crown prince stands firm the developers are now committed to the bill millions of dollars have been spent hiring the world's top reclamation engineers they've worked on huge projects like Hong Kong's chaplet Kok Airport Collins North Sea war and Singapore's industrial center but no one has reclaimed a structure this size or shape before by November 2001 the race to build this mega structure has really underway nine barges 15 tugboats four dredges 30 heavy land-based machines and 10 floating cranes are needed to construct the massive sea wall for the breakwater team their first step in his awesome challenge is to build up the seafloor three massive dredges take up a thin layer of sand from the barren seabed nearby then they dump the sand in a layer up to seven point four meters thick this must be done while the sea is at its calmest to keep it in place barge loads of rabble are dropped on top of this this bed of rock will raise the breakwater from four meters below sea level to three meters above it's the beginning of the sea defense without which the island cannot exist the sloping layers take out the force of the waves as they hit the world but the sand and rubber layer is only the base the core of the breakwater what really creates the protection is the outer armor for this engineers need vast lumps of rock each piece of rock weighs up to six tons it's these massive boulders that will protect the fragile island from the destructive force of the sink but sourcing enough rock is an enormous task excavation teams spring into action in 16 quarries across the United Arab Emirates the eleven and a half kilometre breakwater needs a lot of Rock 5.5 million cubic meters of the stuff enough to build two Egyptian pyramids [Music] Rock is blasted out of the mountains night and day loaded onto dozens of lorries it begins the arduous journey to the coast here the rocks are immediately piled onto barges and ships straight to the construction site it takes less than 24 hours at each rock to travel from the quarry to breakwater 24/7 this floating conveyor belt delivers up to 40,000 tons of rock per day nearly the same weight as two aircraft carriers the density size strength and permeability of each Boulder is crucial this stone wall must last for centuries there's no concrete or steel holding these rocks in place these vast boulders are not just dumped in position graded by size and weight it's the sheer volume that keeps them here positioned by cranes each rock must interlock for the next to withstand the full force of the sea constant checks are needed to ensure the breakwater is in the right place and the rocks are stable the only sure way to do this is to send in divers to pinpoint and check every meter of it nothing about this mega structure is left to chance any movement could cause the rock to crack and the wall to disintegrate leaving the whole project vulnerable a detailed study of the breakwater rocks below the water is noted divers are looking for signs of fatigue on these six ton boulders their fear is that son will have splintered or be knocked out of place by strong waves when they were put here every 27 meters a diver surfaces to record the location of the rocks they're checking the reading is taken through a man based on land but so far this section of the breakwater stands firm January 2002 six months after work began a large section of breakwater stands proud four and a half kilometres out at sea for everyone involved it's an exciting time as the dream becomes reality when the first breakwater came up of course we all went out there we had to stand on it there's a tiny little precipice of rock in the middle of the ocean and look back at Dubai and say that this is the beginnings of our job it's a momentous achievement for the team but there's still over 10 kilometres of this vast sea wall to build the engineers are jubilant but their happiness is short-lived winter is closing in with a schedule of only two years to complete the breakwater the last thing anyone needs is a delay winter in the middle east brings shamar's great storms with winds of up to fifty six kilometers per hour wind shifts a sudden whipping up the C ring torrential rain violent thunderstorms or blinding dust roads on land little can move out at sea things are even worse massive waves back of the boats that need dead calm water to place the sand and rock with pinpoint accuracy we had to seek shelter in the very little shelter that we had built Engineers planned for the bad weather but the stones of March 2002 are worse than they feared everybody crowding around trying to protect themselves from the storms the boats find shelter but more worryingly will the breakwater hold it's a nail-biting time over the next three weeks the storms are relentless all the engineers can do is watch and wait the breakwater stands firm but the schedule is slipping the construction team is three weeks behind and the pressure is immense every second counts it's vital that the fragile Sand Island has protection only when a 550 meter long section of breakwater is built can the Palm Island begin to rise above the sea but the schedule is desperately tight the entire mega structure must be complete by 2006 they have two and a half years to create the island and breakwater and just two years to build the city on it the only way to meet the deadline is for both the breakwater and the island to be built at the same time it's not an ideal situation it will mean that throughout the build the Palm Island will have the bare minimum of protection from the sea but the engineers have no choice the deadline is set while the second team building the island wait for the protective breakwater to be built they keep ahead of schedule by laying the sand foundations below sea level but now eight months after construction began they are desperate to break the surface finally April 2002 the first 550 meter section of the breakwater Rises three meters above the sea at last the builders of the palm can step up the action and bring the island above sea level for the first time to complete this massive island team two has the awesome task of finding 94 million cubic meters of sand to create their island enough to cover the whole of Manhattan one meter deep it's an enormous job in itself but finding the right sand is an added headache Dubai has more sand than it could ever need but there's a problem desert sand is the wrong material for the job it's too fine the particles weren't cleaned together it means that the vast sand island would simply wash away the engineers must look elsewhere the best sand for the job is found six nautical miles out at sea this sound is much more suitable its coarse tax densely and is more resistant to wave impact they will dredge sound from the Gulf seabed and there is an added benefit the dredges will spend less time transporting the material to the construction site in just three hours a dredger travels to and from the site scoops up the sand and sprayed it in position it works a five square kilometre area dredging up the top metre of the sea floor it takes less than an hour to fill the 8,000 ton tank with sand the sand is then pumped through a pipe and sprayed into place at ten meters per second enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in four minutes the process is called rainbow II the island construction team work round the clock to keep to the tight schedule night and day the island grows bit by bit the rain boats and builds into a sand bar rising up to four meters out of the water but for the engineers there are mixed feelings is the shape of the island progressing as planned there's a great excitement and there was great anticipation and a little bit of fear it sit in the right place with doubt cast over the construction Dubai has a trick up its sleeve 676 kilometers up in space Dubai has access to the only privately owned satellite in the world it's so powerful it rivals those of the Russian and US military the satellite icon US orbits the earth taking pictures that prove the island is totally on track so far it also means the crown prince can keep a close eye on his pet project August 2002 a year in and the island team is ahead of schedule eight kilometers of the breakwater stands firm eight palm fronds break through the azure seas but it's a grueling and difficult process rainbowy is a common operation and land reclamation but this is no ordinary reclamation project there is no mold for the palm shape and no fixed points to get bearings from the unique shape makes it a nightmare to build because the whole design relies on accuracy this enormous structure has 56 kilometres of waterfront and almost all of it is curved to make things more difficult it's impossible to tell from the ground if the sand is falling in the right place the only way to complete this task is to use state-of-the-art technology prior to GPS we couldn't have done this job there are only two straight lines in this project all the rest of them are curbed it's all down to a team of five men who walk the perimeter of the island every day as it takes shape it's grueling work summer temperatures reach a searing 48 degrees Celsius humidity it's 95% with heavy packs strapped to their backs these mobile receivers create a grid reference for the island receiving signals from space and a fixed position on land the height and position of the sandbars is recorded with these coordinates dredges can sail into the exact position and rainbow the sand with pinpoint accuracy only by using state-of-the-art GPS technology can this awesome mega structure take shape as the world watches the palm island becomes a reality at the same time faith in this tiny emirate is restored post 9/11 Dubai emerges as a safe haven in the Middle East the beaches fill up again business resumes the crown prince's gamble to continued construction has paid off but there is still a deadline to meet the island must be built by 2006 coordination between the two teams one building the breakwater and the other reclaiming the Sand Island is crucial if they don't work in perfect synchronicity the whole project could be thrown into jeopardy if the breakwater progressed too quickly it would cut off access for the reclamation contractor if the reclamation went too quickly then it would be at risk for the storms we couldn't let one get ahead of the other in any way it's a delicate balance but a year into the project and incredibly work is on schedule against all odds the Palm Island rises above the waves protected by the ever-increasing seawall it's a symbol of engineering achievement but the engineers biggest challenge is still to come how to make the island safe to build on the majestic palm island is only made from sand but sand is unstable and highly susceptible to the movement of water around it it also takes time to settle before it's strong enough to build on but this awesome structure will support a city of 120,000 people and their safety relies on firm foundations this massive Sand Island must be made rock-solid but how October 2002 Debye is building the world's most audacious engineering project in the Arabian Gulf a five and a half kilometre island in the shape of a palm tree made entirely out of natural materials a year into the build and two-thirds of the breakwater is complete eight kilometres of massive rocks pile three metres above the waves backed by 200 metres of beach that will eventually carry 22 hotels behind this sea defence the first nine palm fronds made of sand rise above the water dredges spray sand from the sea floor a process called rainbow egg to create the first half of the five and a half kilometre island but building a man-made structure in the middle of the sea with only rock and sand throws up challenges every step of the way the team constantly battled with nature as the sea erodes the work they do we worried initially that we could actually do it that we could place the sand where it should be that we could place the rocks where they should be the teams now race to finish the checked but then the engineers discover a problem record with the whole project in jeopardy the decision to start construction before completing the research has finally caught up with coming in or going out the sea is not circulating around this massive mega structure as they planned the tides are not flushing the system properly clean water is not moving fast enough round the inner waterway the water is in serious danger of becoming stagnant people have paid millions for a piece of this paradise island green fetid water is not going to work a solution must be found and first changes must be made to the design but all the time the Palm Island is taking shape to the original plan further tests around the computer luckily the solution is found just in time and it's simple the seawall must have two breaks in it two four lane bridges link the sections of the breakwater these two openings mean enough fresh flowing water can get into the systems twice a day the tide enters the structure pushing clean water around the farms over two weeks the entire waterway is replenished but there is always a fear it may return environmentalists now test the water everyday the check that the system is working the return of algae and stagnant water is something they can't allow with the water quality assured the project is back on track teams race to finish the structure seven dredgers rainbow the sound creating the last few palm fronds floating cranes lift the final rocks into place by August 2003 the breakwater is complete an awesome five and a half million cubic meters of rock now holds back the full force of the sea two months later in October the island reclamation is finished 94 million cubic meters of sand have been pumped into the arabian gulf to create the perfect palm shape in just over two years the palm island has finally risen from the sea the deadline has been met just on time and phase one of this monumental engineering challenge has been accomplished there is still a very long way to go phase 1 is only the completion of the foundations now to fulfill the crown prince's dream 4,500 houses and apartments hotels and shopping malls must be built along the waterfront this sand island must support an entire city but here lies the next major problem sand is not easy to build on [Music] because the sand has been sprayed into position it's loose and uncompacted we get the material for the islands dredged from the seabed which means that all the fine materials are already cleansed from the sands you could drive on it within a couple hours after you reclaim it Alvar is not satisfactory to build on but a strong base is vital to support the city at sea before construction can start engineers must find a way to compact the sand to make it firm in theory the idea is simple all we have to do then is compress the top layer as you can see when you press down very little displacement except straight down nothing to the site that gives us a firm surface to build on but in reality the engineers are working with an area spread over five square kilometers over time the sand will compact naturally but this will take years and time is something the engineers don't have construction of the infrastructure must start immediately as if the schedule wasn't pressure enough there is another more important reason why the foundations of the city must be made extra strong Dubai sits just on the edge of a major earthquake zone BAM Iran north of the Arabian Gulf 526 a.m. 26th of December 2003 the town is hit by a quake measuring a massive 6.6 on the Richter scale in minutes 60% of the buildings are leveled 43,000 are dead 20,000 injured and 60,000 are homeless following this multiple quakes hit two by 480 kilometers across the Arabian Gulf it's a wake-up call to the palm island project if the epicenter hit - by it could spell disaster should an earthquake come through the area the San Mike loses cohesiveness down deep the reclamation process pile sound one grain upon another if we put the ocean around it you see the island however the lateral forces of an earthquake can make the island disappear this terrifying phenomenon is called liquefaction it happens when a quake shakes the Earth's surface causing sand particles to move as the sand compacts it pushes the water between the particles upwards making the ground liquefy it means the island would sink back into the sea this was terrifyingly evident in Kobe Japan in 1995 an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocks the city in seconds the buildings are reduced to rubble but in the harbor events are very different the force of the quake liquefies the reclaimed land the port is built on how the buildings and walls literally sink into the sea causing nearly seven billion dollars of damage it's something they can't risk in Dubai before any houses can be built Palm Jumeirah must be made strong enough to prevent it from liquefaction the team work out they need to compact a layer of sand 12 meters deep too deep to compact by normal road roller the only solution is a process called vibro-compaction January 2004 15 machines work around the clock to firm up a land probes drill over 200,000 holes into the ground across the surface of the island high-pressure water air drives each probe deep into the earth this shaft then vibrates shaking the ground around it the earth is compacted it's a tried and tested formula as the sand compacts and sinks more sand is poured in until the area around the probes is rock solid it takes the team eight months to stabilize the 17 palm fronds but it has to be done to ensure the safety of 120,000 people who will live and work here March 2004 two and a half years into the project and palm jumeirah is ready to become a building site now thousands of trucks and cranes tons of supplies and 2,000 leg rest ascend on the island this is the most complicated part of the project the installation of the infrastructure gas pipes electricity cables water supply and buildings in two years they must build an entire city at sea but half of the developers set themselves a near impossible target January 2005 one of the world's biggest man-made structures has reached a critical stage after two years the island foundations rise out of the sea now engineers turn their attention from sand and rock to concrete glass and steel they're building an entire city out at sea in just two years nothing like this has ever been attempted before for Project Manager Scott Hutchinson building the apartments is a massive logistical nightmare I probably worked on three or four other billion-dollar projects before but this is without a doubt the biggest and the most complex that I've ever seen and and I can't imagine other projects being any more complex than this eight hundred and fifty buses ferry the forty thousand strong Asian workforce on and off the island in two 12-hour shifts they'll work in grueling temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius as well as thousands of people millions of tons of concrete and steel are shipped in from around the world and driven on to the palm 51 different contractors build houses roads canals shopping centers for sewage plants and each part of the jigsaw must meet the next perfectly to stay on schedule all the materials must arrive on the site exactly on time and they will go to any lengths if they don't if the material isn't showing up from overseas you put somebody on the plane and fly the guy out there to get it done you don't wait you don't sort of react you just get out there and try and be proactive because otherwise each other sighs never gets done supply is not the only problem installation of the utilities and pipelines is a massive headache miles and miles of gas and water pipelines need to be laid across many different parts of the construction site Malea hide are head of the technical team knows that on a job this size the good plan is vital it's not that there is no plan there is a plan but you have to monitor and adjust this plan on a daily basis because it changes every day since the islands launched in 2001 it's changed beyond recognition originally Palm Jumeirah was designed to house and service 60,000 people but by 2004 developers realized the public love the ideas so much they doubled the capacity everybody's changing their requirements and you have to learn to react very quickly to that and in Dubai things move quickly the pressure is on incredibly when the palm was first released to the public all the houses sold in three days the most expensive go for 1.2 million dollars David Beckham and the England Football team were amongst the owners now three years on the residents want to move in there are over 1,800 villas to build on the palm fronds enough to stretch the Shaun's alizée in Paris 14 times the delivery date looms nearer and many of the houses are still at ground level the schedule is slipping but the crown prince has promised the world a luxury location by 2006 the deadline must be met to add to the pressure the design of the palm trunk gets more elaborate every year this 1.6 kilometre stretch will carry at least 8,000 Villa and apartment complexes 220 shopping malls and restaurants and the developers are still threatening more a new plan is the 36 story palm tower more space for shops restaurants 450 deluxe apartments but all this extra development comes at a price the deadline for the trunk has slipped to 2008 I guess one of the best parts about it is that when you get frustrated of all the challenges and the paperwork and the meetings and everything that goes with building a project like this you come outside you see the sunset you see the sea and you really realize not only is an amazing project but it's an amazing setting but this awesome setting creates hidden problems for the engineers with phase one complete the island reclaimed the pond now faces its biggest enemy the environment nature will permanently try to destroy anything built in its way the bigger the mega-structure the bigger the problem from the start of construction there has been one issue Engineers know they will face the problem of erosion all beaches are constantly affected by waves but with a man-made island the problem is exaggerated these beaches are not naturally replenished with sand by the sea if nature won't do it someone has to otherwise the whole island will be washed away only now the island is complete can they see the full extent of the problem engineers have studied every meter of the palms 56 kilometers line analyzing the effect the waves have on its shape the results show the sand is gradually being washed away in some places and built up further along the structure left unchecked the beaches will no longer be straight and Paradise Island will fail but the engineers are confident that through constant maintenance they can keep the intricate palm shape just when the developers think they have cracked the problem and even bigger dilemma rears its head beach erosion is also affecting the debye coastline on a much bigger scale Dubai is famous for its beautiful beaches could the success of the mega structure cause the mainland's downfall normally the currents evenly push the sand along the coastline keeping the beach Straight by building a massive structure so close to the shoreline wave movement in the area has altered the current is changing the shape of the coastline in some places sand is deposited extending the beaches out to sea in others the beach is eroded away and initial research shows some worrying facts in some places the shoreline could be eroded by five to ten meters per year eventually it could destroy mainland resorts property and roads in time the coastline will settle down nature and the structure will learn to live with each other but this may take years in the meantime the developers have bought a dredger this will suck up the sand where it is built up along the coast and deposited in the area suffering from erosion returning the coastline to its original shape Dubai's beaches are safe for now the engineers are constantly working out how to tame nature's forces the erosion problem is under control but the threat to the project doesn't just come from the surface of the sea they now face a new dilemma beneath the waves how has this awesome mega structure impacted on the ecology of the area Orvis 2005 four years after the farm project started this audacious Island stamps its mark on Dubai's coastline this was the first step a big step in putting Dubai on the map but by pushing into unknown territory building structures never built before engineers faced new problems all the time since the palm islands Concepcion environmentalists have been convinced the building of this mega structure would destroy local marine life ruining one of its greatest selling points the azure seas it sits in for the developers it's a problem they're constantly watching every six weeks divers check the waters fish and corals are monitored and measured but fears that construction may have destroyed this underwater world the pier unfounded so far in fact this mega structure seems to be having the opposite effect not only is the marine life unaffected by dredges removing a metre thick layer of sand but the breakwater has created shelter for fish and is attracting new species into the area now the palm developers are turning this to their advantage they plan to build the largest artificial reef in the world in June 2004 two jet fighter planes were dropped to the seafloor for people to dive on there are even plans to sink a red London double-decker bus intrude - by style they'll create something from nothing to rival the reefs of Australia the Red Sea and the Maldives even before the palm is finished the crown prince is inspired by its success now he wants two more Islands each bigger than the last Palm Jebel Ali is one year into construction it's twice the size of the first nearly 8 kilometers in diameter this is designed to be a tranquil island with 29 luxury hotels and an inner ring of water homes and spell out an Arabic poem scribed by the crown prince himself even bigger is palm Dara workers just started on this whopping 14 kilometer long island that will support 500,000 people although engineers have the confidence of knowing how to build these structures they now have a more worrying problem supply to raise this island from the sea will take 1500 million cubic meters of sand 15 times the amount needed to build the first could this outrageous structure fall of the first hurdle because of lack of materials dredges are driven further out to sea in search of enough suitable sand but the engineers are confident that their goals are achievable but just when they thought resources were stretched to the limit the crown prince has the most outrageous idea of them all to make Dubai the number one tourist destination he wants to build the world 4 kilometres out at sea hundreds of small islands are being constructed seen from the air these islands will take the shape of the continents of the world that's an even more complicated structure to build than the palm this is not one island at 300 and each one is different varying in size from five acres to 20 the deadline for these exclusive private islands is 2007 Arizona Wyoming France and Australia all up for sales they cost anything from 6 to 36 million dollars and that's before anything is built on them but creating the world takes land reclamation to the limit this archipelago of sandbars covers an area almost seven kilometers by nine each Island has to be built in exactly the right position to create the global look from space any mistake and the whole design will be ruined the Palm Island put to buy on the map now the world puts the map on Dubai but have the developers gone too far build the demand for property keep up with the escalating build will the bubble burst so far two of the palm islands are completely sold out a third of the world has been snapped up but this still leaves a lot up the sale but the developers are confident they see no end to the demand mega structures are the latest craze to top all plans in January 2005 they launched the Dubai waterfront this claw shaped landmass won't just stretch far out to sea it will also create 75 kilometres of waterfront stretching into the desert together all these mega structures will extend the coastline of Dubai from 72 kilometres to a whopping 1,500 a 2118 percent increase meanwhile the first palms construction team continues to meet the deadline of 2008 but the island stands here in defiance of nature proof that engineers can and will continually push the boundaries of engineering technology the palm island is truly an awesome mega structure
