Dubai’s latest project is set to break five world records

JUST when you thought this city couldn’t get any more opulent it releases new building plans that are set to break five world records.

Meydan One apartment building

DUBAI, the Gulf emirate best known for its extravagant projects and scorching temperatures, announced it would build the world’s largest indoor ski resort, with a 1.2-kilometre run.

Dubai’s current indoor ski resort, opened in 2005 in the Mall of the Emirates, remains the largest in the world, according to the Guinness World Records website, boasting a 400-metre slope.

The slope runs year-round, despite summer temperatures in Dubai that can top 45 degrees Celsius.

The indoor ski resort will be the world’s biggest.

The new covered ski resort comes as part of a scheme dubbed Meydan One, also to include the world’s tallest residential tower at 711 metres, a dancing fountain sweeping up to 420 meters, a vast shopping centre, a 350-room hotel and a marina, according to a government statement.

Estimated to cost of up to 25 billion dirhams ($9.3 billion), the project is to extend from the Meydan racetrack in the emirate’s desert to Burj Khalifa, the world’s highest tower, reported Dubai daily Al-Bayan.

“In a city which never stops innovating, today’s announcement is significant for the future of Dubai and the UAE,” Meydan chairman Saeed al-Tayer was quoted as saying in UAE-based newspaper The National.

It will also have the world's highest observation deck.

The first phase of the project, eventually to house up to 78,000 residents, should be completed in the next five years, in time for the UAE’s hosting of World Expo 2020, according to its promoters.

With its reputation as a liberal city in a conservative environment, Dubai has become a business and financial hub attracting businesses and expatriates seeking to establish themselves in the Middle East.

The emirate, which has also emerged as a tourist destination, last year logged 13.2 million visitors, and aims for 20 million tourists by 2020.

The project will be home to up to 78,000 residents and a dancing fountain.

The Burj Khalifa, also in Dubai, is currently the tallest artificial structure in the world at 830m.

It will be the tallest residential tower in the world.