Dubai continues to roll-out new mega-projects

In recent months Dubai Crown Prince General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has presented three new mega-projects: the Palm Deira - bigger than the previous two palm islands; Dubai Business Bay - an extension of the Dubai Creek with a massive business free zone; and now the Dubai Waterfront next to the Palm Jebel Ali.

'There is still room for new projects,' he told assembled dignitaries at the launch. 'Our policy is not to wait for others to think on our behalf, but to continue with our march towards prosperity and building our future.'

Not for the first time has Sheikh Mohammed's vision for Dubai left observers lost for words. The same reaction followed the announcement of the first palm island project and the Internet city free zone some five years ago.

Both projects are today considerable successes. Companies are queuing up for space in the Dubai Internet City and unfinished homes on the Palm Jumeirah change hands for a substantial premium. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, both projects could have been much bigger.

This lesson appears to have been absorbed by the Dubai planners - and this is a city that does its homework and much time is spent on infrastructure development ideas. Thus development projects are now larger from the outset, albeit in phased structures that allow for the ups and downs of the business cycle.

In many ways the model followed is Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the creator of modern Dubai and father of Sheikh Mohammed. In the late 1970s Sheikh Rashid took advantage of the huge flow of petrodollar investments during the oil boom to build the enormous Jebel Ali port which became the Jebel Ali Free Zone.

This was a mega-project that looked incredibly ambitious in its day, and in real terms the actual investment is still bigger than any single modern Dubai mega-project. But the Jebel Ali port laid down the infrastructure that allowed Dubai to thrive as a trading centre in the 1980s and 1990s. Without Jebel Ali Dubai would not be the city it is today.

Seen in this context the latest Dubai mega-projects make good development sense. Having the best infrastructure is the key to making a trading and business hub succeed, and Dubai is keeping in tune with its past as well as the present in promoting this investment.

It is also important to remember that mega-projects are not completed in five minutes. Five years is an ambitious time horizon for a mega-project, and 10 years to fully complete these massive schemes is not unrealistic.

Thus what appears frankly incredible on the design board right now can appear about as familiar as an old shoe by the time it is completed.

Do the residents of Singapore or Hong Kong remember what their cities looked like just a few years ago? The pictures of fishing villages are just a few decades old. It will be the same story for Dubai.