Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island in Dubai for 20 years.

 

Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island in Dubai for 20 years.

Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island, has been a symbol of human creativity and ambition for 20 years. Construction began in 2001 in Dubai, the largest and most populous city in the UAE.

Palm Jumeirah is one of the sights of Dubai. There are countless luxury hotels, incredibly beautiful beaches, large and royal apartments. About 60,000 people live on the island.

The name of the developer Nakhil is closely associated with this island.

Neither steel nor concrete was used to build the foundation of the island. Instead, the construction team used only sand and stone. However, it did not use desert sand. Despite the abundance of these natural resources in the UAE, these elements could not be relied upon. Ali Mansur, the project's adviser, said the reason was that "desert sand becomes liquid when it comes in contact with water."

About 120 million cubic meters of sand was extracted by dredging from the bottom of the Persian Gulf at a place 10 nautical miles from the island and they were brought for construction work. In addition, 6 million tons of rock were excavated from the Hajar Mountains in the northern part of the UAE.

These rocks form an 11-kilometer-long crescent-shaped embankment that protects the island from high waves and high winds. According to the information provided by Nakhil, it is possible to build a 2-meter high wall, which is suitable for circling the earth 3 times in a circle, using all the stones and sand used to make this island.

Satellite technology has been used to build the 560-hectare (1,360-acre) island.

Ali Mansoor, a civil engineer by profession, is an experienced and shrewd diver. He and five of his colleagues spent about 10 weeks inspecting the dam, which encloses the island. They tested the strength of the dam individually and in groups at different water levels.

Ali Mansoor joined Nakhil in 2001, a year after the construction of the project began. He came to Dubai from Canada in 1997.

He told CNN that despite having modern software technology, being a traditional person, he was inclined to observe with his own eyes.

There were two ways for visitors to see this whole island at once. Either they had to fly in a helicopter or jump out of a plane with a parachute. But now visitors can enjoy the beauty of the whole island from the 360-degree observation deck located at a height of 52 stories. The deck, called View at the Palm, was inaugurated last April. Nakhil also built it.

The 'Palm Tower' will be inaugurated by the end of this year. Part of which is View at the Palm. Along with Atlantis Resort and Palm West Beach, it is also the island's most recent attraction. Palm Jumeirah has already been named in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest fountain.