Dubai, Palm Island, Dubai, Palm Jumeirah

The Palm Islands are an artificial archipelago (islands) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Major commercial and residential infrastructures will be constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in The UAE. The Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractors, Jan De Nul and Van Oord, some of the world's specialists in land reclamation, were hired to complete construction. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent. The settlements will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The UAE in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 kilometers of beaches to the city of Dubai. The first two islands will comprise of approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. The Palm Deira will be composed of approximately one billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in The UAE. Among the three islands, there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas. The creation of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Shortly after, the Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation work began. The Palm Deira is planned to have a surface area of 46.35 square kilometers and was announced for development in October 2004. Before the impact of the global credit crunch hit Dubai, construction was originally planned to take 10-15 years. Two other artificial archipelagos, The World and The Universe, are located between the Palm Islands.