Final phase of development begins on Dubai Maritime City
DUBAI — An official of Dubai Maritime City, which is now on its final phase, yesterday said that Dubai's maritime sector is fast transforming the city into an international hub for industry players worldwide, thanks to the vision of past and present rulers.
"We want to transform the maritime industry...in order to create an environment for the networking and integration of players worldwide," Dubai Maritime's chief marketing officer, Nawfal Al Jourani, told reporters before an aerial tour over the maritime centre's property.
He said that 60 per cent of the world's oil demand comes from the Gulf region, and it is only fitting that Dubai would continue working to be an international hub for the maritime industry as well as trade and commerce.
Dubai Maritime City, a member of Dubai World Group of companies, will be one of the region's most important maritime developments and could transform Dubai into a world maritime cluster, according to Amer Ali, the centre's CEO, in a statement.
"Dubai Maritime City is now certainly taking shape as we have moved ahead with the final phase of construction, and from an aerial perspective it is clear to see the integration of all the project's components," he said.
The 227-hectare maritime centre is a fully equipped and multidimensional development that would provide a world-class infrastructure and environment for the global maritime industry.
The world's first purpose-built maritime centre, Dubai Maritime City's initial infrastructure works cost Dh3 billion.
The company statement said the project's final phase involves the expansion of the services network such as electricity, fire, water and telecommunications facilities. It added that the six-lane causeway connecting the project to Dubai has been completed while the Industrial precinct is operational, although only 50 per cent done.
It added that the largest computerised ship lift in the Gulf region has been installed in the same precinct, which will allow ships of up to 6,000 tonnes to dock in Dubai for repair and maintenance.
It stressed that the maritime centre has finalised a number of projects within the different precincts that include, among other things, the construction of the UAE's first National Maritime Museum, in the Academic Quarter.
The same quarter will house the Maritime Education University, a centre for maritime science which will be constructed following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the International Association of Maritime Universities.
Al Jourani praised the pioneering vision of the late Shaikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who became the ruler of Dubai in 1958, to build a port in the city that would take care of oil shipment and other trade activities.
He said that what Dubai maritime industry now is because of the spirit and foresight of the late shaikh, who inaugurated Port Rashid in October 1971, six years after the oil here was discovered.
He added that it was also Shaikh Rashid's vision to build the Jebel Ali port, which opened in 1985.
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