OQYANA World First islands reclamation complete

Making up the Australasian islands of The World, this project will set the benchmark for all other world developers.

'We are very excited to reach this milestone' said Dr Wadad AlSuwayeh, COO of OQYANA Limited. 'It has been achieved earlier than originally planned, and in Dubai terminology this is a great feat. We have worked very closely with The World LLC and are pleased to be ahead of schedule.'

The completed land reclamation consists of 20 islands which are embedded into 4 separate land masses that will serve as construction platforms. Once finished, these sand platforms will be dredged out to form the 20 separate islands.

'This land formation plan was created by OQYANA to speed up the development during the construction phase. Now that we have received the completed islands we plan to begin infrastructure works on from the 2nd quarter of 2008. '

The islands were first purchased in 2005 and are being created as a lifestyle destination and community with approximately 2,500 apartments, 200 villas and two hotels; one an exclusive seven star and the other as a luxury spa resort. Features of the development include a cultural centre for performing arts, a conference centre, leisure facilities, restaurants, cafes and island lifestyle specific retail.

OQYANA World First is located 4km from the coastline of Dubai and will occupy a total area of 1.87 million square meters (20 million square feet) and a total upland area of 417 thousand square meters (4.5 million square feet). It will contain 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) of inter-linked walkways, 15,000 meters (50,000 feet) of shore front and a marina with over 1,500 private yacht berths.