Blazing fireworks and dazzling lights marked the opening of the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai, which the Gulf Emirates hopes will pep up its international image, shaken by debt woes.
The USD 1.5 billion structure, an "unprecedented" engineering marvel that was thrown open to the public on Monday, was built with a major contribution from India - a vast labour force.
The steel and glass tower was opened by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid al Maktoum, who also lifted the veil on a closely guarded secret of its final height.
Declaring that the tower is 818 metres (2,684 feet) high, the new building pips all its nearest rivals, including the 101-storey high Taipei Tower in Taiwan.
The Dubai Burj's record seeking builders are also boasting of the highest occupied floor of any building in the world and today the needle-shaped tower ranks taller than north Dakota's Television mast.
Emaar Properties, the biggest developers in the Gulf said only 160 of the 200 floors of the tower would be occupied with the 40 remaining floors left for services.
The tower will have 1,044 apartments and 49 floors of office space serviced by 57 high-speed lifts.
Sheikh Mohammad inaugurated the tower in a colourful ceremony featuring dazzling laser lights, fireworks display and a choreographed water display on the Dubai fountains which stretch for 275 metres at the foot of the tower.
Burj Dubai's building cost are estimated USD 1.5 billion, with 90 per cent of the building already sold. That comes out to more than USD 9 million per floor.
The spire is billed as a 'vertical city' of luxury apartments and offices. It boasts four swimming pools, a private library and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.
Work on the world's new tallest building started in 2004 and at times new floors were being added almost every three days.
Over 14,000 labourers have worked on several floors of the tower giving final touches to the high-rise, with more than half of them coming from India, a construction official had said recently.
The opening of the spectacular tower comes after the ones booming real estate sector in the Emirates has crashed, halving the value of most of Dubai properties in comparison with peak prices, when they were selling for a staggering USD 1,900 per square foot.
The city state has now turned to its oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi for a series of bailouts totalling USD 25 billion to help cover debts amassed by state-linked companies. Burj developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the government, but has not received any emergency cash.
"The Burj Dubai opening would have a positive impact on the first three quarters of 2010," said Chairman Emaar Properties, Mohamed Alabbar, who held a media briefing for the opening of the skyscraper.
Alabbar told media that there were no plans to merge with Nakheel, after the company cancelled a merger with Dubai Holding in December. |
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