Beaches in Dubai Under Threat

August 30, 2008

Dubai has rapidly risen through the ranks to become one of the world’s top tourist destinations thanks to a number of diverse factors, not least of which includes a recent and sustained period of heavy investment in the construction of residential, holiday and commercial properties in the Emirate.

As well as the intensive building programme, Dubai has also invested heavily in ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to match their lofty construction ambitions. The government’s strategic approach ensures that they never take their eye off the ball and pay attention to every detail; nothing is overlooked and that includes the beaches.

Dubai’s beaches and parks offer a diverse range of recreational and leisure activities, and prove a big draw for the millions of tourists that visit every year. However, coastal erosion is a real problem in Dubai as the sea is eating away almost 50 metres of beach every two years, according to figures collected by engineers at the Coastal Management Section of Dubai Municipality. This has prompted the development of a new mission to protect the Persian Gulf shore and the subsequent buildings behind it by the specialist government department.

Five-tonne bags of sand have been strategically positioned 100 metres from the shore in a protective arc known as a groyne to prevent the destruction of the Umm Suqeim beach, which has many houses behind it under real threat from the coastal erosion. As well as the groynes, sand is being deposited by engineers as quickly as it is being washed away by the seas with over 500,000 cubic metres poured on existing beaches by the coastal management department.

The Dubai coastal zone stretches from the Abu Dhabi border in the south to the Emirate of Sharjah in the north, passing through the City of Dubai, and it is this entire stretch of approximately 70 kilometres that is under observation by the engineers. But, as they point out the erosion is nothing new, it has always affected the Dubai coast. However, due to the massive programme of construction that has seen many new properties being built close to the sea, it is now becoming a threat to those hotels, houses and holiday homes.

Indeed, another concern of the engineers is that the building of the mega projects off the coast of Dubai, such as The World, are actually increasing the effect of the onshore erosion. They are calling for any development, whether it is a one-off new luxury beach hotel in Dubai or a mega project built off-shore to be assessed for its likely impact on the regions beaches. As they point out, the beaches are one of the major reasons why millions of tourists are flocking to the region in the first place, so they should ensure that further development does not affect them too adversely.

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