Wonders in the desert

You don't have to travel thousands of miles to see the seven wonders, not any more. Instead, they are coming to Dubai.

Dubai will build its own replicas. The only difference is, these lookalikes may be larger than the originals, so they'll stand out even more. Taj Mahal in Dubai will be twice the size of the original one in the Indian city of Agra. In copyright terms, these could be termed "original copies".

For a modest entry fee, you will be able to see them from a close distance all located within a patch of four million square metres of land, and currently being built in the middle of a virgin sand dunescape called Falcon City of Wonders in Dubailand.

The wonders the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Light House of Alexandria will come in different shapes and sizes.

Who cares if they are not exactly the same as the original, especially since lookalikes themselves are becoming newsmakers these days, in some cases outshining the stars they resemble?

The project will bring together the wonders of the world under a single umbrella. While the Grand Pyramid of Giza will contain residential flats, offices and retail outlets, the Babylonian Gardens will comprise luxury apartments, restaurants and coffee shops. The Light House of Alexandria will consist of hotels and retail outlets. Luxury apartments and retail outlets will be the main features of the 70-floor Eiffel Tower, whereas the Taj Mahal will comprise hotels and restaurants. The Great Wall of China will encircle the Pharaohs Theme Park located within the fun city.

Unique exterior

Falcon City of Wonders will feature a unique exterior based on the profile of the falcon, with a number of elegant villas and compounds constituting the wings. The project includes apartments, villas, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, health clubs and spas, schools and parks.

So, visitors will stay at the Taj, a hotel, and residents can live in apartments in Eiffel Tower. It might sound like a crazy idea, while critics might accuse the developers of using global attractions as money-making tools.

However, once completed, visitors are likely to appreciate the concept as something great, besides one which invests money in a creative way. The same investment could have been used for a cluster of towers and villas to maximise output. Instead, money is being used for a development, which is bound to stand out from the crowd.

"By bridging the wonders of the world to Dubai, we are trying to bridge the cultural gap between the East and the West," says Salem Al Moosa, chairman and chief executive of the project and a prominent Dubai businessman.

"Falcon City of Wonders will be a meeting point of culture, heritage and civilisation, and will offer a greater understanding about various cultures, by placing them side by side in one place.

"We are not only bringing in the wonders of the world to Dubai, we are putting up a museum for tourists that will showcase our heritage, culture, lifestyle, history and hospitality for them to get a glimpse of. This way, we would be able to forge a better cultural understanding between societies and people something the world needs badly."

The falcon's shape of course is itself symbolic of UAE's heritage.

Dubai-based Salem Al Moosa Group is behind this massive project, which is aimed at attracting a large number of tourists, and the project falls in line with the government's vision to turn Dubai into an oasis of attraction.

"Falcon City of Wonders is unparalleled in the uniqueness of its concept and the broadness of its scope," he says. "The project will effectively be a land of civilisations, creating an exotic ambience for visitors, while educating them about the culture, tradition and lifestyle of people from different ages. It is this distinctive nature of Falcon City of Wonders that sets it apart from developments elsewhere in the region."

Al Moosa has appointed Hyder Consulting to design the infrastructure package, while WS Atkins has been appointed the masterplanners for the project. Al Hai and Al Muqqadam are currently doing the soil test, while National Engineering Bureau are consultants for the villas part of the residential cluster.

The project's infrastructure bids will be floated in three or four months, and the first batch of residents are expected to move into their villas by early-2008.

Tourist hub

Once completed, Al Moosa says, the facility will house 1,000 villas, host 18,000 families, also six hotels, a cluster of commercial towers and a theme park. The distinct components will be separated by the Great Wall of China and a network of lakes, so that the residential community have their private accesses and exits and remain largely free from interference.

Dubai, with 1.1 million population, has attracted more than 5.8 million tourists last year and is poised to receive 15 million by 2010. To achieve this mammoth target, the city needs to groom its empty landscape with wonders and attractions and extend its 70-kilometre-long sea beaches with clean water, sufficient attractions and resort hotels.

Falcon City of Wonders is part of a jigsaw puzzle called Dubailand, which, once completed around 2009, will house at least a dozen theme parks, more than 50 luxury hotels, close to hundred convention and meeting facilities, more than 100 residential towers, thousands of villas, an efficient rail and road transport network, a dozen artificial lakes and about half a dozen stadia.

Falcon City of Wonders is part of a growing list of projects that include the Dh7 billion Dubai Sports City, Dh7.2 billion City of Arabia, Dh7 billion Aqua Dunia, Dh900 million Global Village, Dubai Motor City, Dh14 billion Legends, Dh6.6 billion Al Barari development and Dubai Lifestyle City.

Dubailand, Dubai government's mega tourism project, has so far recorded more than Dh30 billion worth of investment signed up by investors in 25 projects in a little more than two years.

This figure is about 60 per cent of the projected investment outlay of Dh50 billion, involving 50 leisure projects, since the announcement of the project in October 2003.

Dubai government, through Dubailand, is investing more than Dh3 billion in its infrastructure that includes Dh700 million targeted towards a road network and two interchanges.

Once completed, Dubailand will have a forecast footfall of some 200,000 visitors a day with Dh367 ($100) per capita projected spending.

Many will be roaming around the seven wonders of the world, in wonderment and admiration.