NEWS
Meydan on schedule for March 2010 debut
Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:57 PM
SCALE MODEL OF MEYDAN RACECOURSE
Dubai Racing Club/Andrew Watkins photo
by Steve Bailey
Meydan Racecourse, an ambitious multi-billion-dollar project being constructed adjacent to the current Nad al Sheba racecourse, has begun to sprout from the desert and remains on schedule to open during the 2010 Dubai World Cup meeting.
The 76-million-square-foot project, which also will include a hotel, museum, ten restaurants, a marina, and space to park more than 10,000 automobiles, was unveiled on the eve of last year's Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) day, and work began on the site less than 12 hours after that night's final race.
Following a DVD movie presentation of the project, Douglas Small, Meydan's head of projects, took media members on a guided tour of the spot where the hotel and the 65,000-seat grandstand are in the process of being erected. Construction has reached the first floor and mezzanine level of the grandstand.
"We are moving forward toward an on-time completion schedule," Small said. "We have to get this project done by Dubai World Cup 2010.
"As with any project, especially one of this magnitude, we have problems. We get over them and move on every day."
Every room of the ten-story hotel, which will be operated by high-end hotelier Banyan Tree, will have an unobstructed view of the track, as will many of the restaurants in the facility, Small said.
Currently, there are approximately 4,500 workers on the site, and that number will grow to as many as 7,000 later this year as work begins on the parking structure. Workers have come from all over the Middle East, Malaysia, and China.
Sixteen cranes are in use now with two to four more likely to be added over the next six to 12 months, Small said.
"Our goal is to complete the hotel and a portion of the car park by March 2009," he said. "The day after the 2009 World Cup, the rest of Nad al Sheba will be demolished as we work toward the end of the project."
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
