Contractors race against time for twisting tower

Dubai: Work on Dubai's first twisting tower, the 80-storey Infinity Tower, will try to make up for lost time after a previous estimated 18-month delay following a wall collapse.

In February 2007, the marina-facing wall collapsed, for reasons which are not yet known, said Kareem Derbas, partner and chief executive officer of developer, Cayan.

"It [collapse] had a big impact on our project schedule," Derbas said.

Derbas said the reason behind the collapse is still being investigated.

The cost of the damage was around Dh200 million.

The final completion for Infinity is December 2011, although the contractors, Arabtec, are on an "accelerated schedule", said Derbas, so it could be finished earlier.

The 330-metre residential tower will twist 1.2 degrees so that it will look like a spiral.

Cayan officials also put to rest any nervousness regarding the global financial crisis, saying the liquidity in their projects and Dubai is ample.