Kuwait is planning to build a new city for 700,000 people from scratch. The city, Madinat al-Hareer ("City of Silk" in English) will be a high-tech metropolis that Kuwait hopes will become an international trade and finance hub. The whole project is expected to cost over $130 billion.
Kuwait is just the latest country to try to turn its oil boom into something more tangible. For year now, the United Arab Emirates have been working to turn the once sleepy port of Dubai into a financial center rivaling London and Hong Kong, and a world-class tourist destination. Russia is also sinking some of its oil wealth into iconic skyscrapers for Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as funding the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The plans for Madinat al-Hareer are no less ambitious. It will be crowned by a 1,001 foot skyscraper and linked by rail to other regional capitals like Damascus and Baghdad. The completion date for the city is 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment