Dubai’s Tourism and Commerce Marketing agency has confirmed the cost of staging the World Expo 2020 event is expected to be at least £6.45bn. Planning work for the exposition — whose theme is “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” — is already underway with site preparation expected to begin early next year. A “significant amount” of the funding will come from the government, but there are also major opportunities for the private sector to invest during the run up to Expo 2020 and during the event itself.
The Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest building in the world, will be joined by its Dubai neighbour Burj 2020
“There is a significant opportunity for foreign direct investment from the event,” explained Helal Saeed al Marri, director-general at Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing, while adding that preliminaries for the event involved two main areas – development of the actual Expo site and the development of the city.
“The Expo site requires significant infrastructure and development, and the team is working on designs for this. This will be very project based,” he said. “The other side is city readiness which will require major development work.”
Al Marri added that doubling the number of Dubai’s hotel rooms was a key part of preparing the city to handle the 25m expected visitors, 70 per cent of whom will come from outside the United Arab Emirates. There is a great need, he stressed, for the construction of three and four-star hotels by international operators.
The first stepping stone to Expo 2020 will be the building of Burj 2020, what is hoped will be the world’s tallest commercial tower. “We have put out tenders to work with consultants, the architect will be announced this year, and construction will start early in 2015,” said Ahmed bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.
To be built mainly of steel, to speed its construction, Burj 2020 will tower over the Dubai landscape and act as symbol for what the city has achieved with Expo 2020 and highlight its expectations beyond, continued bin Sulayem. Its target occupants will be international companies which need between ten and 20 floors.
Ranked as the world’s third largest event behind the Olympics and the Fifa World Cup, it is hoped Expo 2020 — the first to be staged in the Middle East — will open up opportunities for trade and tourism and put the UAE in the world spotlight.
Inaugurated by the Great Exhibition of 1851, the five-yearly World Expos remain a key meeting point for the global community to share innovations and make progress on issues of international importance such as the global economy, sustainable development and improved quality of life for the world’s population.
Just as the Great Exhibition gave London the Crystal Palace and led to the foundation of the V&A Museum, each World Expo generates important legacies for the host city. The Shanghai event in 2010 helped transform a heavily industrial city-centre area into a thriving cultural and commercial district. It also brought the Chinese expo’s theme — “Better City, Better Life” — to the attention of more than 73m people. The next World Expo takes place in Milan, Italy, in 2015, under the slogan: “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.
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