I'm just confused why they are going to spend 7 Billion dollars saving this waste of space? Reminds me of 'Stiltsville' in Miami - a city built on sandbars off the coast... destroyed and epic failure.<p>What are they thinking? Whats the rationale? Anyone know?
The rationale is that the UAE and generally the Gulf States at a point decided to invest their money instead of investing them in funds in Europe of the Americas. They had a vision to create a 'Singapore' in the desert and they almost achieved it.<p>The financial crisis that hit the world - and which did not originate - in that part of the World created most of the mess in Dubai as well as numerous other places. They also saw all our overseas investments devalued which caused problems in restructuring their debt.<p>There is no comparison with 'Stiltsville'. Trying to save their Companies and investments and <i>paying</i> their creditors cannot be labeled a failure.
A colleague of mine's father was one of the engineers that designed the first Dubai "island" - the one that the Burj Al Arab was built on. Even more so than the subsequent Palms, The World was a colossal expense, but that is not the main reason for the Emiratis to save it. They will spend any amount to avoid loss of face in the international community. For an Emirati, title and appearances are far more important than wealth. This is just IMHO from living there for a number of years on 2 separate occassions.