Cities in the sand

City of Arabia is self-described as the ‘heart of Dubailand'. CW takes a closer look at how work is progessing on site.

Much has been made of the progress (or otherwise) at Dubailand, and it's fair to say that the unassuming patch of sand along Emirates Road does little to deflect those concerns for the average driver charging down the highway.

Yet, taking a slight detour behind the hoardings reveals a somewhat different story.

Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group's City of Arabia was always one of the more ambitious projects planned for the overall Dubailand development, and in typical Dubai style carried its fair degree of hyperbole. After all, who could fail to be stunned by a project that promised the world's largest mall, a canal in the middle of the desert, and most memorably of all, a Jurassic Park style theme park with animatronic dinosaurs?

As with all site tours, the intricately detailed and carefully crafted model you'll see in the visitor centre bears little resemblance to what you'll see on the ground - concrete piles and workers scurrying around from task to task. However, deputy director for projects Alex Vacha remains confident.

"The challenge is that people can see and understand buildings. Infrastructure isn't as visible. But the whole place is practically ready for development now," he says, overlooking Wadi Walk, the mixed use development to be located on an 8km-long canal.

According to Vacha, 98% of the infrastructure work has been completed since Dhabi Contracting began construction five months ago. Electrical and water works are essentially complete, with the Wadi Walk substation ready and the remainder of works awaiting connection with Dubai's main grid.

Meanwhile, the four bridges that span the Wadi are also structurally complete, although lacking facades. "We'll be installing those closer to the completion date to ensure they're in good condition for handover," says Vacha.

Concrete pouring also began in September, with a series of night pours aimed at getting the site ready for subdevelopers.

Vacha is keen to emphasise the importance of completing the infrastructure. "All the infrastructure will be delivered at the same time," he says. "This way, it allows sub-developers to build without worrying whether parts of the project won't be ready for them."

Vacha suggests that work on Wadi Walk will be finished by the end of 2010 but declines to set any definite timetables for the subdevelopers planning their own work on site. "Our responsibility is for the infrastructure; it's up to the subdevelopers when they choose to build here," he says.

Ensuring water quality is a particular concern for Wadi Walk - after all, the desert is hardly a conducive environment for an artificial body of water.

"Water treatment is very important because if it remains stagnant, it will obviously start to smell bad," says Vacha. He explains that the canal will be sustained by those living in Wadi Walk, with Dutch firm Aqua Teknik providing water treatment duties at the development.

"The water will be treated waste water, so effectively yes, it will be TSE (treated sewage effluent)," says Vacha. "However, the water is going to be treated to such a degree that it is pretty much potable water."

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