22 March 2017

Construction work on “Ain Dubai”, which is based on the London Eye and billed as the world’s tallest and largest observation wheel, is expected to be completed in two years’ time, a senior executive at state-owned developer Meraas said on Wednesday.

The giant wheel -- whose name means Eye of Dubai in Arabic -- is being built on reclaimed land on Bluewater island, off the coast of Dubai Marina, and could be completed during the first quarter of 2019, Brian Schofield, vice president of projects at Meraas, said during a media tour of the construction site.

“We are getting on with it, we are working to programme, we are comfortable where we are,” he said. “What is important to us is that it is safe and it works...there are components on here that are specifically designed just to erect it.”

The $1.6 billion Bluewater project will also include 10 apartment buildings, seven townhouses, 164 retail, dining and leisure outlets, two hotels and a beach club.

Construction work at the site started in 2013 and is now 75 percent complete, Meraas said in a press statement. Work is now focusing on the façades of the buildings, with the first units due to be handed over to residents in the first quarter of 2018.

The manmade island will be accessible via a direct road linking to the main Sheikh Zayed Road thoroughfare, a 265-metre pedestrian bridge connecting to the tourist and residential Jumeirah Beach Residences area and a driverless Group Rapid Transport system which can carry 2,500 people per hour to the nearest Dubai Metro station.

The plans for Bluewater originally included erecting an 80 metre LED screen on the side of the wheel, which could be used to broadcast movies, advertisements and interactive information, but Schofield confirmed that this has now been scrapped as it proved to be “technically too difficult”.

Meraas is owned by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

© Zawya 2017