By 2010 a new city built on 20,000 hectares will rise on a new island costing US$ 61 billion. It will have houses, commercial centres and marinas, creating life in the desert.

Dubai (AsiaNews) – A 75-km canal will reshape the southern part of Dubai and transform the massive Jebel Ali landmass into an island by 2010, GulfNews reports.

The US$ 61 billion mega-project will be built in two parts—the canal which will snake from the Palm Jebel Ali to the Palm Jumeirah built at a cost of US$ 11 billion, and a US$ 50 billion "city within a city" that will cover 20,000 hectares along the canal's southern flank with residential areas, marinas and shopping malls to serve a million people.

The “Arabian Canal will, without question, be one of the wonders of the engineering world," said Saeed Ahmad Saeed, chief executive officer of Limitless, the global real estate arm of Dubai World

Up to 150 metres wide and six metres deep, the canal will flow inland from the Dubai Waterfront, passing to the east of the new Dubai World Central International Airport before turning back towards Palm Jumeirah.

It will be able to accommodate boats up to 40 metres long.

The project is due to start in December this year and will involve digging and moving more than a million cubic metres of earth—enough to fill 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools—every day.

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