China to Build Artificial Island for UAE, Said to be discernible from Moon

China to Build Artificial Island for UAE, Said to be discernible from Moon

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May 29 saw China Railway Engineering General Corporation sign a contract with the Dubai government of the United Arab Emirates for the construction of an artificial island, being the first ever project undertaken totally by a Chinese company in the Middle East, which is estimated to cost US$10bn. The Corporation has been tracing the project since last November and finally won the bid by sweeping away 12 large groups from Europe and the US, putting an end to their monopoly on construction market of the Middle East region.

The "Palm" island is one of the two artificial islands privately funded by the crown prince of Dubai. It will cover an area of 16 square kilometers on a site 4 kilometers offshore which, following the Great Wall in China and the Pyramid in Egypt, will become the third manmade earthwork discernible from the moon.

Shaped like a palm tree, the island contains a crescent, 150-meter-wide dike of 10,000 meters long, a 350-meter-wide, 4,000-meter-long trunk project and 17 wash-breakers of 75 meter wide and some 2,000 meter long. All these embankments would be done by filling up the sea 5-8 meters deep by 3.03m cubic meters of stonework and pile up 68m cubic meters of sands above them. The trunk is linked up with a cross-sea bridge.

The first phase of the construction will take 2 years. Taking up the project indicates the nation's economic and technological strength and will help the Chinese companies in future international competition.



By PD Online staff member Li Heng