Crescent Hydropolis Resorts, which announced plans to build a luxury underwater hotel in Dubai in early 2006, is still negotiating for land, a top company executive said.
"Our first project will be in China, not Dubai, although the planned project in Dubai will be the world's first shallow-water design. We are still in the land negotiation phase to start the project," Crescent's Deputy Chairman Mansoor Ijaz told Emirates Today in an e-mail.
In February, the company reached a binding agreement for Sheikh Fawaz Abdullah Al Khalifa, a member of the Royal Family of Bahrain, to assist it in launching Hydropolis projects in one or more of the Gulf countries.
Crescent has announced the world's first deepwater hotel will be developed in Qingdao, China.
The hotel, HydroTower Landstation, will be built on 33,000 square metres of land, while the Hydropalace underwater hotel will be southwest of Chidao island and southeast of Xiao Maidao. The company is aiming to have the HydroTower Landstation completed in 2008, before the start of the Beijing summer Olympic Games.
Hydropolis Dubai, which was originally scheduled to open in December this year, has been designed to include three elements. These are the land station where guests will be welcomed, the connecting tunnel that will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel, and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex.
"Hydropolis is not a proj ect, it's a passion," Joachim Hauser, the designer of the hotel, said when the project was announced.
The 300 million (Dh2.16bn) hotel will incorporate a host of innovations that will make it an underwa ter complex worthy of the legendary author Jules Verne.
The original idea for Hydropolis developed out of Hauser's passion for water and the sea, and goes much deeper than just building a hotel under the sea.
Hydropolis ballroom, located at the nerve centre, will have asymmetrical pathways connecting the different storeys along ramps.
A large, petal-like retracting roof will enable the staging of open-sky events.
Staircases, lifts and ramps will provide access to the ballroom, while flanking catering areas will supply the banquets and receptions.
To enter this surreal space, visitors will begin at the land station. This 120-metre woven, semicircular cylinder will arch over a multi-storey building.
Crescent, listed on London Stock Exchange (AIM), is working on underwater hotels in Monaco, London, New York and Rio de Janeiro.
By PARAG DEULGAONKAR BUSINESS REPORTER
Emirates Today 2007
