Deira Islands to get 25.3km coastline in Nakheel contract with Dutch dredger Van Oord

Dredging expert to create two of the four islands, including south island containing the Deira Islands Night Souk.

Deira Islands Master Plan April 2015. Rendering courtesy Nakheel
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The developer Nakheel has awarded a Dh387 million contract to the Dutch dredging contractor Van Oord to deliver 23.5 kilometres of coastline for its Deira Islands project.

The work involves shaping 8.5km of new beaches, 3.5km of quay walls, 9.5km of rock edges and 2km of breakwaters. It will be completed under a two-year contract and cover work on two of the four islands that make up the project.

The total cost of the coastal work for all four islands is Dh550m.

Van Oord’s project will include the 4.5 square km south island, which will house a 4km stretch of waterfront that will be big enough to accommodate up to 500 yachts and boats.

It will also contain the new Night Souk, Deira Mall and the Deira Islands Towers and Boulevard containing more than 2,400 apartments, retail units and a 400,000 sq ft shopping and leisure promenade.

Deira Islands was announced by Nakheel in 2013.

It is a scaled-down version of Palm Deira, which was initially launched in 2004 as an Dh11 billion scheme that was due to contain up to 8,000 villas. Van Oord was initially recruited to work on the project in 2005.

The company has also worked on other Nakheel flagship artificial island projects including Palm Jumeirah and The World.

In May 2013, it was appointed by Meraas Holding to carry out dredging and land reclamation for its Bluewaters Island off the coast of Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residence district.

mfahy@thenational.ae

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