Wednesday 25 July 2007

Mid week grump

Is it just me, or does the extravagance of Dubai really make you think it has a Tower of Babel complex? I have just read the following about the construction of the Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s tallest building.
When completed, Burj Dubai will have consumed 330,000 cubic meters of concrete, 39,000 metric tons of steel rebar, 142,000 square meters of glass and 22 million man hours. The tower will have 56 elevators traveling at 1.75 to 10 meters per second and double-decker observatory elevators that can carry 42 people at a time.
The 80,000 square foot foundation slab and 50-meter deep piling are waterproofed. More than 5,000 consultants and skilled construction workers are employed onsite, and the world's fastest high-capacity construction hoists, with a speed of up to two meters per second, move men and materials.

I can’t help wondering what kind of legacy the Emirate would leave to the world if it had invested all those resources into a humanitarian project. After all, it has Internet City, Media City, Medical City. What about Hope City or Compassion City? How many more buildings, islands, soccer stadiums must it build to justify its wealth?

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