It exemplified the booming property market and ambition of Dubai’s entrepreneurs.
But after the global financial crisis led to the collapse of the emirate’s home-building market, a unique development known as ‘The World’ is reportedly facing Armageddon.
The project, a man-made archipelago designed to resemble a map of the planet, is facing disaster as its islands have begun sinking, a tribunal heard this week.
The development, which sits a mile and a half from the mainland, is all but vacant after investors who bought up its ‘nations’ saw their finances collapse after the economic crash.
A spokesman insisted the islands were not sinking.
‘Our periodical monitoring survey over the past three years didn't observe any substantial erosion that requires sand nourishment,’ a statement said.
Property prices in the emirate have fallen 58 per cent from their peak in the fourth quarter of 2008.
But after the global financial crisis led to the collapse of the emirate’s home-building market, a unique development known as ‘The World’ is reportedly facing Armageddon.
The project, a man-made archipelago designed to resemble a map of the planet, is facing disaster as its islands have begun sinking, a tribunal heard this week.
The development, which sits a mile and a half from the mainland, is all but vacant after investors who bought up its ‘nations’ saw their finances collapse after the economic crash.
A spokesman insisted the islands were not sinking.
‘Our periodical monitoring survey over the past three years didn't observe any substantial erosion that requires sand nourishment,’ a statement said.
Property prices in the emirate have fallen 58 per cent from their peak in the fourth quarter of 2008.
