Palm Island: The Wonderful Islands
The Palm Island are the largest artifical islands in the world and are under construction in Dubai, in the United Areb Emirates (UAE). They are being developed as tourist, leisure, and residential resorts will increase the coastline of the country by 120 kilometres.
After four years of planning and careful consideretion of the enviromental issues, consruction started in 2001. Dutch engineers with experience of reclaiming land from the sea were employed in the building of the first two island. The site for all three islands is an area of the sea where the water is not very deep.Snad is taken from the seabed and sprayed into the constuction site. Although the shallow water facilities this process, the islands are still very exposed to the currents and tidal movements of the sea. Rocks are used to hold the sand in place resulting in a large crescent structure. This acts as a breakwater and protects the islands from the sea.
The frist two islands are in the shape of a date palm trees and consist of a trunk and 17 fronds , or leaves , coming off the trunk. The first island, named Palm Jumeirah, has three five-star hotals in the trunk, and luxury homes in the leaves. It is astonishing that these homes went on sale in 2004, they were all sold within three days.
The second palm, Jebel Ali, was started in 2002 and is desined to be an entertainment centre. Six marinas are planned, with a water theme park, and homes built on stits in the water.
The Palm Deira is planned to be the largest of the three islands, with a length of 14 km and a width of 8.5 km, an area langer than the city of Paris.