First ever Mideast dinosaur park to be housed in Downtown Dubailand

Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari of the I & M Galadari Group, yesterday signed up with the Natural History Museum, London, to start developing detailed plans for this exciting project, the total cost of which is estimated to be about AED 600m. The Museum leads an international team of experts including Dr. John R. (Jack) Horner, Jack Rouse Associates, BBC Worldwide Ltd, Economics Research Associates, Furneaux Stewart Design & Communication Ltd, and General de Producciones y Diseño, S.A. The project will lead to the creation of a series of authentic dinosaur environments in the downtown area of Dubailand.

"This is the first step in developing the downtown project," said Ilyas Galadari. "This will be the heart of Dubailand. We are committed to providing the best in terms of adventure, retail opportunities, residential accommodation and leisure facilities in the whole of Dubai, and could not be working with a more prestigious or respected team to get the project started."

Mustafa Galadari commented: "What makes this project unique is the agreement of the Natural History Museum to begin planning the establishment of their first permanent presence abroad. The Museum has had touring exhibitions before, but they have never before had an overseas base where they can continuously update their exhibits and develop new ones."

Using five giant glass domes, one of which is an actual temperature-controlled bio-dome, the planet Earth will be portrayed in three eras: the beginning of time, the peak of the dinosaur era, and the extinction of dinosaurs. The domes will feature state of the art, life-size dinosaurs that are electronically controlled. As well as the five domes, visitors can enjoy the experience of a "future zone," where they can get a broad idea of the effects of evolution and of changes in the environment.

The Natural History Museum team came for a visit to Dubai and met with Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari this week. "It is an exciting opportunity for us, in collaboration with the I& M Galadari Group, to establish our first permanent exhibition overseas," said Neil Greenwood, Director of Finance at the Museum. "It will have the full stamp of authority of the Museum in London, and will demonstrate that education and science can be fun."

A famous company is constructing the convincing prehistoric creatures which will be moved into the downtown Dubailand area in 2007. Superior construction, supported by extensive scientific research, has been built into each creature.

"This is a real first for Dubai. We want this project to be known all over the world and to be a key attraction in the Middle East Region," said Anthony Harris, Director of Public Relations for the downtown Dubailand area. "People will be amazed by the intense realism and scientific integrity that this exciting attraction will bring to Dubai. A perfect blend of education and entertainment," Harris added. "Children of all ages love learning about dinosaurs."

The team will bring the best the entertainment and museum industries can offer - a winning combination of accurate and authoritative knowledge of dinosaurs and the world in which they lived combined with world-leading skills in media and presentation.