Dubai plans world wonders complex
The Gulf emirate of Dubai is to replicate ancient and modern wonders of the world in a $1.5 billion city to be shaped like a falcon.
The Falcon City of Wonders will be a community inspired by the heritage of the United Arab Emirates, a seven-strong federation of which Dubai is a member, newspapers reported on Sunday.
It will feature structures modelled after architectural wonders such as Egypt‘s pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
The structures will contain offices, villas, luxury apartments, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, health clubs, schools and parks.
The city will be part of Dubailand, a complex projected as a Middle East version of Disneyland, and will be built in five phases starting in the first quarter of 2006.
Dubai is in the midst of a construction frenzy, with resorts, malls, sports installations and residential complexes sprouting up across its desert sands.
The emirate hosted 5.4 million visitors last year and has made plans to receive about 15 million a year from 2010.