Ah, one of these persons "close to the matter" said ... Well, there's lots of glass on it now so maybe that's correct. But why would Emaar Properties (EMAAR) open the Burj Dubai on the same day as the Metro? The fanfare for that will dilute the pomp and circumstance of the Burj Dubai opening. I don't see Emaar wanting to depomp the circumstances of the BD opening?
Emirates Business 18 January 2009:
Burj Dubai is set to open on 09/09/09
By Sona Nambiar
Burj Dubai, the world's tallest man-made structure, will see a "soft opening" on September 9 this year in tandem with the launch of Dubai Metro, according to an industry source.
"The target is to have the event coincide with the opening of the Metro on 09/09/09," a person close to the matter told Emirates Business. "There is still work to be done in terms of finishing the building," the person said. "This includes the access and exit planning as well as connecting the sewerage lines to the main network."
These issues are being addressed to ensure optimum working of the building before final occupancy, the person said.
Despite several attempts, developer Emaar Properties (EMAAR) did not comment on the subject by the time this newspaper went to press.
The groundbreaking for Burj Dubai took place in September 2004 and completion was projected by late 2008. In June 2008, Emaar Chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar said in a statement: "We believe that a completion date of September 2009 is possible and reasonable for a project of this global magnitude and significance."
Burj Dubai has risen to its final height of 818 metres, a project contractor told this newspaper in a recent interview. The spire was erected in the third week of December. Since then, a beacon has been installed at the top, usually the final topping-out of a tower.
When completed, Burj Dubai will meet all four criteria listed by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which classifies the world's tallest structures. CTBUH measures the height of buildings to the structural top, the highest occupied floor, the top of the roof and the tip of the spire, pinnacle, antenna, mast or flagpole.
Contractor Besix said it is working to complete the work on schedule. "We signed a new agreement with Emaar Properties last year and they gave us an extension of time to complete the project in 2009," said Didier Bosredon, Deputy Project Director at Besix.
"The 154th floor will house the office of the Emaar chairman. The façade is still not finished and work is in progress," he said.
Besix is working jointly with Samsung and Arabtec as the main contractors on Burj Dubai.
The tower will have an observation deck on Level 124, which will offer visitors a bird's-eye view of the city and beyond.
Burj Dubai is part of the $20 billion (Dh73.47bn) Burj Dubai development, which includes a shopping mall, hotels and a variety of residential buildings.
Yesterday there was news that the Burj Dubai opening date had been delayed from September 2009 to December 2009. But an Emaar (EMAAR) spokesperson said they never said the Bur Dubai would open in September 2009. He or she must have meant never, as in never in the past week or two since Emaar did say in a press release last year that the Burj Dubai would open in September 2009.
There were reports in The National, Arabian Business, Emirates Business and so on. I think there's a statement or press release from Emaar somewhere (there's an AP report referring to one) but as usual, the Emaar investor relations department seems to be asleep. There's nothing on the DFM website, I can't find an official Emaar press release anywhere, and I don't see any press release or statement in my in box.
A delay in opening the Burj Dubai is probably not going to suprise anyone. A lack of clarification from Emaar is fairly normal. And did Emaar shares really have a September 2009 opening date for the BurjDubai factored into their price? Still, the markets are jittery and nervous so anything like this is going to be a catalyst to drop-kick them further into the red. Emaar shares fell 5.8% to 2.28 today.
Associated Press 13 July 2009:
Dubai: world's tallest tower to open this year
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The Dubai developer building the world's tallest skyscraper says the tower is on track to open this year, though the exact date remains uncertain.
Emaar Properties (EMAAR) said in a brief emailed statement Monday that the shiny metal and glass Burj Dubai "is scheduled to open this year." The statement said more details will be provided later.
The company previously said the more than 2,600-foot (800-meter) tower, whose facade still appears incomplete, would open in September.
Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper reported Monday that the skyscraper's opening would be delayed until December.
Emaar's profits and share price have been hurt by falling property prices in Dubai and elsewhere.
A follow up report from WAM about the opening date of the Burj Dubai - see also original Burj Dubai official opening date announcement.
WAM 05 November 2009:
Official opening of iconic Burj Dubai announced
Dubai: The Burj Dubai will be opened on January 4, 2010, coinciding with the accession to power of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The 160-plus storey structure is considered the world's tallest building.
Mohammad Ali Al Abbar, Chairman of Emaar real estate company (EMAAR) said the company decided to launch the tower on this date as a gesture of gratitude towards Shaikh Mohammad, who is considered the builder of modern Dubai.
Burj Dubai became the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, with the help of more than 5,000 consultants and skilled construction workers.
Work on the Burj Dubai started in January 2004. The tower reached 100 levels in January 2007. A month later, it surpassed the Sears Tower in Chicago as the building with the most floors in the world.
Burj Dubai is now the world's tallest building and tallest man-made structure, having surpassed the height of the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, USA.
The Burj Dubai houses residences and commercial spaces, apart from Giorgio Armani's The Armani Hotel & Residences.
It also anchors Downtown Burj Dubai, a Dh73 billion mixed-use mega project, already a bustling community described as the new "heart of the city".
Details of the opening ceremony for the Burj Dubai tomorrow. Apparently 2 billion people are expected to watch it on TV. That's close to a third of the world's population (6.8 billion) .
Update: I just looked up television viewing audiences for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games - about 4 billion in 2004, and getting towards 5 billion in 2008.
WAM 02 January 2010:
Mohammed Bin Rashid to inaugurate Dubai Tower on Jan. 4th.
WAM DUBAI: On January 4, 2010, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai is inaugurating Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower), the world's tallest building (more than 800 meters), as yet another unique achievement by Dubai to be added to the pages of humanity's modern history as yet another landmark to further promote Dubai as an emarati and Arab city with global brand and ambitions.
The inauguration of Dubai Tower is true demonstration of Sheikh Mohammed's famous words: "Many talk, we achieve", confirming that he is a true leader who practices what he preaches.
On January 4th, Dubai is set to rejoice in a grand emarati traditional festival to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Sheikh Mohammed's accession as Ruler of Dubai in 2006 which was another milestone in the march of development and progress which transformed the emirate into the world's fastest growing city and contributed to making the United Arab Emirates one of the regional and international leading nations.
The January 4th celebrations express gratitude to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid whose wise leadership and farsighted vision and determination made Dubai a favorite global destination that is capable of achieving great breakthroughs in various fields to further add to Dubai's strategic regional and international weight.
Sheikh Mohammed's shaping of Dubai into a truly enterprising global powerhouse is backed by his vision of creating a unified and economically sound nation that witnesses progress at various levels.
An estimated 2 billion people around the world are expected to watch live the inauguration of the tallest man-made structure on the planet in an iconic celebration of Sheikh Mohammed's accession.
All preparations for the grand celebration were completed and capabilities were mobilized everywhere to give the best detailed close-up coverage of the event using the latest digital High Definition (HD) transmission technology, said Ahmad Al Sheikh - Board Member & Managing Director, Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) and Media Escort to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid.
Two HD TV mobile production units equipped with state-of-the-art equipment will be on location with full teams to cover the event.
Some 400 representatives of local, regional and international media and news agencies will cover the inauguration. The Media Office has taken the responsibility of issuing media accreditations and making all related arrangement for smooth media coverage, he noted.
The Office, which is also organizing Sheikh Mohammed's Accession celebrations, is supervising cultural, traditional and sports events and performances and marches between 2 pm and 8 pm everywhere in Dubai.
Alabbar is a towering Dubai figure
By Wayne Arnold
DUBAI - Even after almost seven years of overseeing the US$1.5 billion (Dh5.51bn) construction of the world's tallest man-made structure, the Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar still finds himself sneaking peeks at the finished product.
"I'm like a child," he said, looking out from his office near the foot of the Burj Dubai. Visitors to the tower, he said, might even spot him standing among the crowds, looking upwards and marvelling. "I say, 'Oh my God. I can't believe we did this.'"
The Burj Dubai's scheduled opening today marks not only a record-setting triumph of engineering but a watershed in Dubai's whirlwind economic development. The building culminates an explosive, debt-fuelled tear of growth that was derailed by the global financial crisis, but not before establishing a once-sleepy port town as the pulsing, cosmopolitan centre of an increasingly dynamic region.
"The opening of the building is a celebration, a symbol for the city that we're there. We're there to do business," Mr Alabbar said. "We are the regional hub and we're proud of it."
Few people have played so central a role in building modern Dubai as Mr Alabbar. One of a handful of technocrats entrusted with realising the vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Mr Alabbar set up Dubai's Department of Economic Development in 1992. He went on to establish one of the region's largest companies and remains a director of Dubai 's powerful Executive Council.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the developments in Dubai leading up to the completion of the tower, Mr Alabbar conceded that mistakes had been made in the pursuit of growth. He added that the city has now achieved a level of development that means it will no longer need to borrow and spend at the pace it did before the global economic crisis.
Dubai has struggled to cope with about $85bn of debt that could pose a long-term burden. However, the crisis also put an end to a speculative bubble that many executives say had become a costly diversion. With a restructuring now under way to make its debts more manageable, analysts and executives say Dubai can focus on returning to its roots as a logistics hub.
"There was a time when we all needed to fire all engines on," said Mr Alabbar. "Now I think we need to fire engines selectively, carefully."
The executive drew much of Dubai's growth strategy from Singapore, where he lived and worked for five years. Singapore, he said, honed his business instincts and taught him about entrepreneurship, corporate discipline "and that profit is not a bad word".
The city-state also impressed on Mr Alabbar how property development could be used to promote specific industries, that building office districts could lure banks and multinationals and that hotels would lure tourists.
After setting up Emaar in 1997, Mr Alabbar launched Dubai's property boom almost single-handedly in 1999 when Emaar began building Emirates Hills, the first large-scale development available for purchase by foreigners.
Emaar first announced plans to build the world's tallest building in 2003. That the Burj's specifications remained a closely guarded secret, Mr Alabbar said, was in part due to the fact that they were in flux. Many design elements were changed along the way, even the height. So were the elevators, he said. After all 57 had been designed, Mr Alabbar looked at the mock-ups. "I said 'My God, it looks so horrible,'" he recalled. "Do we have time to change? It's so ... Gothic!" There were financial challenges as well. Contractors reportedly came close to walking off the job when Emaar fell behind on payments at the height of the economic downturn. Work to install the building's skin fell behind in early 2006 when the Swiss company responsible for the cladding failed.
The biggest challenges were related to the tower's height and the need to make life normal for the 100,000 people that will eventually live and work half a kilometre or higher in the air.
There was, for example, what Mr Alabbar refers to as the pizza problem. Even in a building where the service elevators travel 32kph, designers were concerned tight security and great distances might keep food from getting delivered to the upper floors while it was still hot.
The solution? Emaar will run its own cash-on-delivery culinary courier service inside the Burj, Mr Alabbar said, paying for residents' food on delivery and then routing it to its destination inside the building.
Inevitably, there will be critics who call the Burj an emblem of Dubai's excess, its hubris, a description Mr Alabbar dismissed.
"The reality is that it's a reflection of the city's ambition," he said. "We go through ups and downs. That's natural." He dismissed speculation that his removal from the board of the Investment Corporation of Dubai was a political demotion. Sheikh Mohammed announced in November that Mr Alabbar and two other top executives, the Dubai World chairman Sultan bin Sulayem and the Dubai Holding chairman Mohammad Abdullah al Gergawi, were no longer on the board.
"We've never gone to any office," Mr Alabbar said of the board. "We had forgotten that it existed. I don't know how this speculation really got out of proportion." Mr Alabbar said that Dubai may have ultimately tried to grow too quickly.
"We all know very well that we were a little bit too ambitious," he said. "If you look at all the landmarks that are built in London or in New York or in Hong Kong ... we want to do everything in five years," he said.
Mr Alabbar also suggested that the frenzied days of building out Dubai's infrastructure were at an end. "We were a hub under construction," he said. "It's time for us to really grow with substantial business because a lot of the construction is done."
So you have to believe what Mr. Muhammed Ali Alabbar can't.
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