Tiger Woods Dubai nursery to cost Dh80m

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The country's single largest nursery is being developed at the Tiger Woods Dubai, a residential golf course development at DubailandDubailand, at a cost of around Dh80million.

The 80-hectare nursery is home to more than a thousand trees and shrubs that will be transplanted across the development in several phases. Following the completion of the Tiger Woods Dubai development, plans are on to expand the nursery by another 20 hectares to cater to DubailandDubailand project.

Being built on an area of 55 million square feet of land at DubailandDubailand, Tiger Woods Dubai will include Al Ruwaya - a Tiger Woods designed golf course, a golf academy, a clubhouse, a seven-star boutique hotel, 100 villas, including 22 'palaces' and 75 mansions and a community retail area.

The Tiger Woods Dubai development will have 30,000 fully developed trees. The trees are being shipped in from Thailand, Australia, South Africa, the US, India and Saudi Arabia. "The 12 to 13 metre trees are some of the tallest ever imported into the UAE. Prominent species include Siris Tree (Albizia lebbeck), Golden Flame (Peltophorum pterocarpum), Golden Shower (Cassia fistula) and River Bush Willow (Combretum erythrophyllum)," said Abdulla Al Gurg, Project Director.

The cost of importing the trees and shrubs and developing the nursery is expected to be about Dh80 million. "About 11,000 of the 30,000 mature trees will be used in Al Ruwaya itself, while the remaining will be replanted all across the development," said Al Gurg. "Currently the plan is to bring in about 480,000 shrubs for the development."

The shipping cost of each container will be about $2,500 (Dh9,182). "At present we have shipped about 10 containers. There will be 25 containers coming every week for the next three to four months. About 800 containers of trees and shrubs would be shipped into the UAE for use at the golf course alone," said Al Gurg.

"Al Ruwaya, a 7,700 yard, par 72 championship-quality course has been designed to include dramatic elevation, lush landscaping, stunning water features and an overall design programme, which will challenge and entertain golfers," he said.

The turf for the golf course was ordered from Georgia, US. "It is a very special type of grass and is superior to any other type on earth. The species is the same that Tiger has recommended. It has been specifically selected to create the playing condition in the golf course and for the way he wants the ball to bounce," said Al Gurg. "The turf was flown in temperature-controlled containers. It is a premium turf that can withstand the heat. With the right amount of sand, nutrients and water, the turf will be perfectly fine," he said.

Over 10 hectares of sprigs for the turf have been planted at the nursery and will be ready for harvest by mid August. The grass takes 10 weeks to grow and the schedule is to grass three holes at a time

A Dh90 million reverse osmosis (RO) plant, to be constructed and operated by the developer will be installed on site to purify 5,000 cubic metres a day of treated sewage effluent water to specified standards. An network of pipeline was laid to fetch water into the development from almost 18km away. The course would require at least 13,000 cubic metres of water to irrigate.

A special team of engineers from Landscape Unlimited are working on the shaping of the golf course. "They have worked on about 800 courses and have been nominated by Woods," said Al Gurg. One of the hindrances he said had been the shortage of sand. "We are actually running out of sand within the development. But we have the luxury of having unlimited amount of sand from the neighbouring areas. We need extra sand to create features, structures and elevation," he said.

Excavation work for the six-metre deep lakes and the foundation of the club house is in progress. Nearly 31,000 cubic metres of cut-and-fill per day is in progress at the golf course area. The design for six of the 18 holes has also been simultaneously accomplished, with concepts explored for remaining holes.

Currently earth works are in progress and the lakes are being excavated. For two months every Wednesday dynamites were used to excavate six metres deep. The last blast is tomorrow. "The deeper the lakes the more aesthetically real and hygienic they will be. About 7.5m sqft of lakes will be created, all of which will be interconnected. Water for the lakes will be sourced from RO plant," he said.

The power for the golf course will be supplied from a substation where work has started and is scheduled to be completed in 12 months. Work on the eight and half-km ring road the boulevard that will link the hotel and all the club house, has also begun. More than 300 trucks operate daily and work is being done round the clock to ensure completion of the project on schedule.

The number
12-13m: The 80-hectare nursery will include 12 to 13metre trees the tallest ever imported in to the UAE.

By Joseph George

© Emirates Business 24/7 2008