German Developer Plans Huge Dubai Project

A German property developer announced on Monday plans to build luxury villas and hotels on six artificial islands off Dubai despite the huge financial woes faced by the Gulf emirate. The Kleindienst Group said it will begin work on location at The World — a cluster of artificial islands taking the shape of the world map — which is at the heart of Dubai’s multi-billion debt crisis. “We have interests in industrial, commercial, hospitality and residential real estate, but The World is where we now see the strongest market potential,” company director Josef Kleindienst told a news conference.

“Tourist arrivals to Dubai have increased despite the economic slowdown in 2009 and worldwide the market for property ownership abroad has shown resilience, particularly for luxury holiday home destinations,” 
he added. Kleindienst plans to launch the project in the first quarter of 2010 with the construction of “Germany” one of the islands, with plans to build later Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden and St Petersburg. The project dubbed — Heart of Europe — is expected to cost a total of $850 million and to be completed in 2015, Kleindienst said, adding that it will include villas, hotels and restaurants.