Dubai to build world's largest manmade lagoon

Already home to manmade islands and ski resorts, Dubai is set to build the world’s largest crystalline manmade lagoon, the developers behind the project have confirmed.

Crystal Lagoons, the US-based developer of some of the world’s largest manmade lagoons, is to develop its largest ever project in District One, a joint venture between Meydan Group and Sobha Group located at the Mohammed Bin Rashid City master development.

The project will be cover 40 hectares and will be four-times bigger than the world’s largest existing lagoon. It will be officially launched at the Cityscape Global real estate conference in Dubai on October 8 and, once complete, the developers hope it will be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The project will include custom-made beaches, luxury residences, green parklands, waterways, a shopping and dining pavilion and large recreational spaces.

“Caribbean landscapes are no longer exclusive to tropical destinations. Our pioneering concept and state-of-the-art technology, which allows for sustainable, swimmable, turquoise lagoons of unlimited sizes to be built and maintained at low cost anywhere in the world, is proving extremely popular with our growing list of partners across the Middle East,” said Kevin P Morgan, CEO of Crystal Lagoons.

“Dubai gives us an outstanding strategic position in the Middle East, and the opportunity to participate in a world-class development that adds prestige to our current project portfolio,” he added.

Mohammed Bin Rashid City (MBRC) is a planned mixed-use development containing four components; family tourism, retail, the arts and entrepreneurship and innovation. Elements will include the world’s largest mall, a public park larger than Hyde Park in London and Universal Studios theme park.

Crystal Lagoons is currently working on 250 projects in 50 countries, including two lagoons in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, which currently includes the world’s largest lagoon at 12 hectares, and other projects in Jordan, Oman and the UAE.

“As the only company in the world offering this concept and technology, we continue to expand globally and revolutionise the real estate market by partnering with international developers and resort operators to improve overall sales prices, velocity, and project densities. Based on our track record in the Middle East, we have proven that our technology can add value to a top destination, making beachfront real estate a reality anywhere in the world,” said Morgan.

At last year’s Cityscape exhibition in Dubai, Morgan told Arabian Business the firm was planning to announce up to $3bn worth of deals in the GCC.

In its latest press release, the company said it was currently in discussions for a number of new tourism projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Egypt.