Dubai - The new landmark will be open to the public by November.
Published: Sun 1 Oct 2017, 12:00 AM
Updated: Mon 2 Oct 2017, 5:18 PM
Visitors of Dubai Frame will have to book their tickets through an app to see the city's major landmark scheduled to open next month, a senior official said on Sunday.
Eng Hussain Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said testing and operations launch of Dubai Frame will be at the end of October, and it will open to the public in November.
He confirmed that the Dh160 million project, expected to attract two million visitors annually, is only missing the final touches.
"There will be no paper tickets, and visitors will have to go smart," he said during a conference that announced Emaar properties as the official manager of the new landmark.
"Your smart phone will be your ticket," said Lootah.
On Sunday, Dubai Municipality signed an MoU with Emaar properties that will link its Burj Khalifa's "At the Top" experience with Dubai Frame, offering appropriate customer tour of the place.
Ahmed Al Matrooshi, managing director of Emaar Properties, said the company will have a specified and customized plan on promoting the frame and making it accessible to visitors and residents, using their experience with Burj Khalifa.
"Both projects (the frame and Burj Khalifa) are different, so we will be putting up a plan that will be modified regularly."
Lootah said Emaar will incorporate Dubai Frame due to their "good experience" in utilizing Burj Khalifa as a tourist attraction. The property giant will give proposals for marketing and promotion activities, type and price of tickets, technical equipment and software as well as photography at the landmark.
The long wait is over
Launched in 2013, Dubai Frame has been delayed with the official opening slotted for 2015.
Lootah said that the delay was due to the challenge of choosing the right material that would give the frame its majestic look.
"Initially, we had first thought of having silver color, but that was not giving the required aesthetic beauty of the structure," said Lootah. The frame is now covered by a stainless steel gold cladding that Lootah said is used for the first time and is the reason behind the "frame's brightness."
The civic body coordinated with Dubai Civil Defence in ensuring the safety of the structure.
"You see the frame is now shining as it stands tall in the middle on the city. Dubai Frame isn't a normal project, and we had to choose something high quality to represent it," said Lootah of the project located at Zaabeel Park, and is designed to offer visitors a 360-degree view of Dubai as they walk through the bridge.
Earlier this year, Dubai Municipality got into a legal dispute with a Mexican architect who won the international competition to design the frame and said he never signed an agreement for the design to be used.
Commenting on the issue, Lootah said it is with the Department of Legal Affairs. "It's been a year and we didn't receive an update. We don't know what went with it."
It was unclear if the dispute had been resolved.
Measuring 150 metres high and 93 metres wide, the rectangular structure is expected to become an iconic symbol added to an array of landmarks in Dubai such as Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab.
Comparing to a 50-storey tower, the Dubai Frame's design is inspired by Expo 2020.
The two parallel towers of the frame are linked by a glass bridge through which visitors will have a bird's eye view of old Dubai as they look towards Karama, Umm Hurair, Bur Dubai and Deira. As they turn around, visitors will see the high-rise towers and development projects of new Dubai in contrast including Burj Khalifa, Emirates Towers, Sheikh Zayed Road among other landmarks.
KT Edit
Smart tickets at Dubai Frame
Dubai is at it again, but this time it expects its residents and visitors to be smart, too. The Dubai Frame will open in November, and it will be a paperless offering. The government's move to create a smart city also entails a population that is adept with smart technology. Hence the attraction will not have paper tickets; the smart phone will have it instead.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com
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