Vying for superlatives

Dubai likes everything big and exorbitant. The Gulf city already has bragging rights to the planet’s tallest skyscraper Burj Khalifa, the world’s largest fountain which shoots fifty stories high and the biggest emporium by total area, Dubai Mall. Now, Dubai’s ruler has announced plans to make the world’s biggest shopping mall and gardens larger than London’s Hyde Park.

The 2008 recession brought a lot of projects to a standstill and now the city is reviving property projects, to boost the economy. UAE’s largest developer, Emaar Properties PJSC and Dubai Holding LLC plan to build a district called ‘Mohammed Bin Rashid City,” named after the Gulf emirate’s ruler. It will host nearly hundred hotels, a residential area and greenery 30% more and bigger than Hyde Park. It will also host the self-titled ‘Mall of the world’ catering to 80 million shoppers a year. Meydan City Corporation will approve a mile long canal from the city areas of Business Bay to the ocean. A few months ago, life size replicas of the wonders of the world too were announced in the city.

Despite its exorbitance, Dubai continues to be UAE’s second largest emirate, the first being Abu Dhabi. Looks like, the Emirati ruler would not stop until his city has everything bigger, grander, flashier and taller than the rest of the world. Try and beat that!