Aladdin City in Dubai
Who doesn’t know the story of Aladdin (or Alauddin) and his Wonder Lamp? This thrilling story of the Arabian Nights is built on the childhood memories of each of us. Aladdin’s Wonder Lamp’s wish-fulfilling demon created a beautiful palace for Aladdin. Aladdin lived in China, so that palace was also in China. In fact, there is no such installation in China. But in the middle of the Arabian desert, the birthplace of the Arabian Nights, Satyavi Satyavi is building a fairy tale called ‘Aladdin City.’ The question is, where is that dreamland of fairy tales being created?
The United Arab Emirates (Arabic: Emarat) is one of the richest countries in West Asia. Oil is the driving force behind the oil-rich nation’s economy, but the state has focused on developing the economy to reduce its dependence on oil. One of its sectors is the tourism industry and the Emirate’s tourism industry and the epicenter of Dubai.
Dubai is the most populous city in the Emirate and one of the Emirate’s seven emirates, meaning Dubai is the Emirate’s capital. Dubai is world-renowned for its diverse architectural masterpieces. The world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa, the world’s only ‘seven-star hotel’ Burj Al-Arab, the artificially created Palm Islands in the nearby Persian Gulf, the world’s largest natural garden ‘Dubai
Miracle Garden,’ the world’s third longest driverless Metrorail ‘Dubai Metro’ – Not there? As if the sheiks of the Emirate are determined to build Dubai as a modern version of the Arabian Nights. The beautiful ‘Aladdin City will be built in this Dubai in imitation of the story of the Arabian night!
The Dubai City Authority granted permission for the facility in 2014, and construction began in late 2016. The facility is being built on a 4,000-acre site near the historic Dubai Bay. Dubai Bay is a historic area of the Emirate, where wooden sailing boats still ply and where merchants exchange goods. Notably, the historic Dubai Bay area is seeking UNESCO recognition as a ‘World Heritage Site.’ Still, the site where the ‘Aladdin City’ is being built does not belong to the region, even though it is close to Dubai Bay.
Aladdin City, under construction, will have six large towers. Among them, the shape of the three towers will be similar to the wonder lamp of Aladdin. The three towers will have 34, 26 and 25 stories, respectively. Instead of Aladdin’s magic carpet, the towers will be connected to each other via a 450-meter-long air-conditioned pedestrian bridge and walkway. Pedestrian bridges and sidewalks will be shaped like fairy-tale dragons and endangered reptiles.
One of the towers in Aladdin City will house the hotel and the other towers will house the offices of various commercial establishments. The Aladdin City will be an extension of Dubai, the Emirate’s commercial heartland. There will be a spacious parking lot, where 900 cars can be easily parked. The area of the whole installation will be 1 lakh 10 thousand square meters.
Dubai city authorities selected three companies to design Aladdin City. Among them was the Mainhardt Group, a Singapore-based construction engineering company. It was not immediately clear how much money would be spent on the project, but later it was reported that the total cost of the Aladdin City would be 1.835 billion (or 183.50 million) UAE dirhams. The value of the US currency is about 500 million (or 50 million) US dollars, and the value of the Bangladeshi currency is about 4,225 crore. The construction cost of Aladdin City is more than the total annual income of eight small countries of the world!
The construction of this legendary structure was supposed to be completed in the last half of 2018. But due to various reasons, it was impossible to complete the construction work in the last half of 2020, the current year. However, the recent Covid-19 epidemic has hit buildings and other West Asian states, although the number of people affected is relatively low (at the time of writing, the number of Covid-19 victims in the Emirate is 6,781 and the number of deaths is 41). Presumably, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the deadline for completion of Aladdin City may be further delayed.
Dubai has already achieved enviable success in the tourism industry. Needless to say, the impeccable Aladdin City built in the light of fairy tales will take this level of success to a higher level. Will the reader go to realize the dream of the fairy tale of the Arabian night in the heart of the desert?