Understated is a word you could never knowingly apply to Dubai – but the latest project set for the emirate could put everything that has gone before firmly in the shade. Developers have unveiled an ambitious plan to create a complex with a $1-billion (£618 million) replica of India’s iconic Taj Mahal marble mausoleum, which [...]

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Dubai plans billion-dollar replica of Taj Mahal

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Understated is a word you could never knowingly apply to Dubai – but the latest project set for the emirate could put everything that has gone before firmly in the shade.

Developers have unveiled an ambitious plan to create a complex with a $1-billion (£618 million) replica of India’s iconic Taj Mahal marble mausoleum, which would also include a 300-room hotel, shops and serviced apartments.
It is understood that ‘Taj Arabia’ will be nearly four times the size of the original, built in Agra, northern India, between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his favourite wife.

In miniature: A model shows the Taj Arabia complex with the Leaning Tower of Pisa behind

‘The Taj is made as a monument of love and we hope to promote this in Dubai as a major wedding destination,’ said developer Arun Mehra.

He told the Gulf News: ‘Marriage is a celebration. It needs to be announced and glorified. Currently Dubai is not regarded as a wedding destination. People go to Bali and other exotic places to marry. Now they will come to Taj Arabia.’
The development – not thought to be an exact copy – will be part of the 107-square-mile Dubailand, a six ‘world’ theme park currently under construction.

Situated in ‘Falcon City’, the Taj replica will be accompanied by representations of other architectural wonders past and present from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Great Wall of China to the Pyramids, Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa.
London Bridge, Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament are also expected to make an appearance. Falcon City is slated to be finished by 2014.

The mood at the annual exhibition, which attracts property developers and investors from around the Middle East region, is at its most upbeat since 2008, just before a bubble in Dubai’s real estate market burst and sent prices plunging 60 per cent.

© Daily Mail, London




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