These Fake Islands Could Spell Real Economic Trouble
Glitzy property projects and financial crises tend to go hand-in-hand.
A glittering city on a pile of sand? Beware the lurking financial crisis.
Photograph: Bloomberg
Where is it that we’ve seen glittering archipelagos like Malaysia’s Forest City and Melaka Gateway developments before? Those stretches of newly packed white sand, dotted with palm trees, villas, marinas, high-end retail malls and office towers?
Is it Dubai’s World and Palm Jebel Ali developments? Both sit all but deserted a decade after the 2008 financial crisis crashed their dreams of creating exclusive, private-island enclaves for the likes of Michael Schumacher and David and Victoria Beckham. Or the Bridge of the Horns project, which improbably promised to create megacities on opposite sides of the war-torn, pirate-infested Bab el-Mandeb straits?