The World offshore development will require constant dredging after the project has been completed, to prevent the marine channels that separate the islands from silting up.

But Nakheel’s director of engineering, Saeed Ahmed Saeed, says that this will only need to be done every five years.

This week the developer reached the halfway mark on The World, with 55% of the sand reclamation already complete.
Since the launch of the project two years ago, more than 300 site workers have been working in shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The logistical challenge has involved the co-
ordination of 10 dredgers working to move more than three million cubic metres of sand every week. A fleet of up to 14 barges transports rock to the site, with more than 5.5 million tonnes of rock placed to date. The finished project will consist of 300 islands forming an image of the world map.