Dubai's "The World" Project Failing

Dubai's dream to build "The World" is failing; out of the 300 man made islands sculpted from sand only one has been built on. The only island that has been built on is called "Greenland", it is a two story luxury villa surrounded by palm trees and the Persian Gulf. "The World" was supposed to have only been a five year project which started in May of 2003. The islands are about a 15 minute boat ride off the coast of Dubai. The islands were built inside a lagoon protected by a 17-mile breakwater made up of 34 million tons of rock.

Each island varies in size from the smallest being 120,000 sq ft to the largest being 450,000 sq ft, and each cost between 15 and 50 million dollars. The main developer of the project said that the whole project would cost around 14 billion dollars, and that 70% of the islands had already been sold (but that was not true). He pitched the idea to financiers , global banks, and investors saying that it would be a millionaires playground, but instead it is now 299 mounds of sand. The major developer Nakheel, blames the 2008 global financial crash as to why the project has haulted, and as why people are sceptical to invest in his project. Developers are hoping that the production will start back up soon and they will be able to finish the project shortly.