First club on Dubai's The World to open soon

The first island on The World project is expected to get the final permit to open its shores for residents and tourists this week.

The manager of the club, now rechristened, the Royal Island Beach Club, is confident of starting business before this month-end.

"We are waiting for the final building permission from authorities, which we expect to get this week. Once we get the permission, we will officially open the club, which should be before the month-end," Reza Sinnen, Operations Manager at the club, told 'Emirates24|7'.

Although the club has not yet decided on the annual membership charges, Sinnen said the membership will only be limited to yacht and boat owners.

The club has eight private chalets, an International cuisine restaurant, a swimming pool and two beach areas. As of now, no overnight staying will be allowed on the island, but they are looking at introducing the option later.

Wakil Ahmed Azmi, a Dubai-based Indian entrepreneur, owns the island club.

Royal Island Beach Club, which has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Roads & Transport Authority to ferry tourists through water taxi and Ferry Dubai, plans to finalise a location in Jumeirah soon.

“We will offer fixed water taxi services from a location in Jumeirah and the taxis will run pre-determined schedules. The ferry will be available for bookings of up to 98 guests.”

Sinnen said that there are options for tourists to hire luxury yachts as well and they have signed MoUs with some private tour operators.

On Fridays, the club will be running an all-day event called “Stranded” aimed at discerning individuals with a unique mix of music operated by “Must Have Soul.” On Saturdays, it will be hosting brunch, which will include day use of the club facilities with swimming pool and beach use.

The World project is nine kilometres wide and seven kilometres long. It covers an area of 931 hectares and will add 232km to Dubai’s natural 67km of beachfront. The islands range from 150,000 to 450,000 square feet in size. The project is divided into private estate island zones, commercial zones, which have low/mid/high density resorts, hubs for ferry transfer points and public visitor areas.

The islands, sold only by invitation, were earlier priced in the range of $20million (Dh73.4m) to $50 million. Nakheel claims it has already sold 70 per cent of the 300 islands, but construction has commenced on only two islands.

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