Dubai: A new Dh1.5 billion suspended canal could be built within two years high above both Dubai Metro and Shaikh Zayed Road to link the Dubai Creek extension to the Gulf, announced His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai on Thursday.
A video posted on Shaikh Mohammad’s website on Thursday depicted images of a hanging navigational channel filled with boats crossing Shaikh Zayed Road.
Accompanying footage showed the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, a 35-metre tall ferris-wheel used to lift boats between two canals of different elevations.
The proposed suspended canal on Dubai Creek may draw high technological elements from the 1,200-tonne boat lift in Scotland as well as other projects such as the Magdenburg water bridge in Germany as well as the Laguna Vista in Chile.
On the website, the announcement stated that the new raised canal would extend from from the “Khaleej Trading Centre to Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, going through Shaikh Zayed Road, Al Safa Garden, Al Wasl street over two kilometres long with a cost of over Dh1.5 billion.”
The announcement also stated that Shaikh Mohammad has ordered that “the canal project must see the light in two years’ time from the time of its execution and all the parties in charge of the project must coordinate and cooperate amongst each other to reach their goals without delays.”
Shaikh Mohammad also commended the “suspended channel’s idea as a substitute to the former ground channel and considered it a creative idea which needs to be lauded,” the website stated.
