A new favourite worth backing

The grandstand and racetracks are just the first of four developments within the meydan city project.

Could Dubai’s new racetrack and grandstand, ready in time for the 2010 season, be just the tonic for an emirate under fire?

Forget bungee jumping, sand boarding or paintballing; you can leave fishing, sudoku and social networking out of the equation too…surely, right now, Dubai-bashing must qualify as the world’s favourite pastime.

Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Madonna together could only dream about the sort of column inches that ruminations on the emirate’s future are receiving at the moment.

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Among all that doom and gloom, it’s easy to forget the magnificent feats that Dubai has actually achieved. Even in the next few months, the Burj Dubai – the world’s tallest building by quite some distance – will throw open its doors, as will the rest of the stations on the Metro’s Red Line.

Flying somewhat under the radar so far, however, has been the Meydan City project that will ensure top class horse racing heads to Dubai in 2010 and for many years to come.

“Meydan is the Arabic word for ‘meeting place’. Meydan is going to be the newest and most important integrated business and lifestyle destination for the UAE and for the world,” explains Meydan commercial director Mohammed Abdul Nasser
Al Khayat.

The enormous 18.6 million m² project consists of four separate areas.

“Horizons will be 80% residential and 20% offices,” continues Khayat. “Metropolis is to be a business hub and Gadolfin Parks will be a waterfront district.”

However, what Construction Week is actually here to see is the central feature of Meydan City, which is now reaching completion: the brand new grandstand and racetrack facilities.

“The grandstand is the longest and largest ‘landscraper’ in the world with a span of 1.6kms or the length of 22 Boeing 747 planes,” explains Khayat.

It’s also extremely impressive given that ground was only broken on the project in June 2007 and its progress was anything but smooth.

A year ago, Meydan cancelled the US $1.25 billion contract it had with a joint venture between the Malaysian contractor WCT and Arabtec, for the construction and completion of the main building works, external works and infrastructure works of the racecourse project.