Will MONACO Be Home To Next Palm Island?!

This is some of the most interesting and exciting Mega Project news I have heard in quite some time! Many of us were guessing where the next Palm Island would be built. Naturally we thought it would be somewhere in the Middle East. My guess was Ajman and I heard many rumors to support this. Well, its not Ajman....in fact its not even the Middle East. It looks like it will be Monaco....on the French Riviera!! WOW!! This was announced via an article in ArabianBusiness.com entitled 'Monaco Aims To Start Work On Palm Replica In 2011.' Here is an excerpt from the article which came out on Oct 2, 2008:

'The race is on to build a replica of Dubai's world famous Palm islands in the Mediterranean tax haven of Monaco.

'Architecture giants Norman Foster and Daniel Libeskind are reportedly in the running after ruler Prince Albert II invited bids for the multi-billion-dollar artificial peninsula project, jutting out into the sea from below the Monte Carlo casino.'

Wow! Monaco is already the Jet Set capital of the world and home to some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Monaco is also a tiny principality with extremely limited amounts of property left for development. So what do you do if you want to expand but you don't have enough property available?? You build a new Palm Island! More from the ArabianBusiness.com article:

'The Prince will choose the winner from the five bidders and the result is due to be announced by February next year, with work to begin by 2011 and expected to last 10 years.

'A playground for the rich and famous, the plans underline the principality's determination not to be left in the shade by Dubai which is well advanced with its plans for three man-made islands, being built by developer Nakheel.'

A Monaco Palm Island will no doubt become a primary tourist destination for Europe and a fabulous new addition to Monaco, which will no doubt build more casinos, luxury hotels, luxury villas and homes, etc. on the island. It all makes a lot of sense to me. The ArabianBusiness.com article concludes:

'Estimated to cost up to $15 billion, the massive Monaco project would add 10 hectares to the principality's territory, according to media reports in France.

'Monaco's prime minister, Jean-Paul Proust, is quoted as saying Britain's Foster and his US rival Libeskind stood out among the five shortlisted bids for their technical and environmental qualities and respect for the natural site.

'But he stressed that no decision had been made and that Monaco authorities would review all bids in the light of the global economic crisis.'

It looks like the deal for a Monaco Palm Island could get the go-ahead anytime! I think a Palm Island would be great for Monaco giving the principality tremendous new potential for expansion and development of a wide variety of projects they currently do not have the space for. It looks like Dubai's Mega Project wisdom has spread to Europe!

This link takes you to the ArabianBusiness.com article used in this post:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/532878-monaco-aims-to-start-work-on-palm-replica-in-2011?ln=en