Dubai will build its opera house and museum despite economic problems

Dubai will build its opera house and mod­ern art museum as planned, the Dubai gov­ern­ment has announced.

The com­plex is to be built near Burj Khal­ifa, the world’s tallest tower. Archi­tec­tural ele­ments are now being final­ised and work will begin soon, said AFP.

Dubai is heav­ily in debt hav­ing bor­rowed to fin­ance its rapid eco­nomic growth. This stopped abruptly when inter­na­tional fin­ance dried up. Dubai’s total debt is estim­ated at more than 100 bil­lion dollars.

In 2008, Dubai announced plans to build a series of cul­tural pro­jects, such as lib­rar­ies, theatres and museums and an opera house, but the pro­jects never saw the light. Neigh­bour­ing Abu Dhabi, mean­while, is build­ing a huge cul­tural com­plex on Saadiyat Island, which will host branches of the Gug­gen­heim, the Louvre and Zayed National Museum.

The Gulf region has been the site of a cul­tural boom over the past few years with the Ara­bian Peninsula’s only opera house, The Royal Opera House of Oman, open­ing last October.

Share