Two years ago, Dubai's skyscraper-studded skyline welcomed a Ferris wheel touted as the world's largest, but it mysteriously stopped turning just months after opening.
The much-touted Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye) was designed as a tourist-luring landmark in the United Arab Emirates' glam-hub, which is home to the world's tallest building.
But now it stands idle for undisclosed reasons, its extravagant light fixtures the only parts seemingly still working.
"Ain Dubai remains closed until further notice," says an official website for the attraction.
"We continue to rigorously work on completing the enhancement works that have been taking place over the past months."
The wheel was supposed to close for just a month but its reopening has since been postponed indefinitely.
Those behind the project inaugurated in 2021 have failed to reply to enquiries.
At restaurants, shops and cafes built around the attraction, employees remain sceptical that the structure, which took around six years to build, will ever turn again.
"Last year they promised us that in winter it will be open, even now, they are saying that in (the coming) winter it will be open again," said one employee at a nearby shop.
"But we're not sure... it will," said the man who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisal.
'Too slow'
The Dubai Eye, built by a consortium of international companies, is located in Bluewaters -- a man-made island designed as a retail, residential and entertainment hub.
For more than a year, the main entrance to the attraction has remained closed and ticket booths abandoned. Only a slow trickle of tourists visit the site, snapping pictures of LED lights mounted on its exterior.
"I asked a security guard here about it and he told me that it doesn't work," said Marwan Mohammad, an Egyptian tourist.
"I asked him for the reason but he did not give me an answer," said the 33-year-old business consultant.
In a city filled with record-breaking landmarks, the Dubai Eye stands at a height of 250 metres (825 feet), each of its legs the length of 15 London buses, according to Dubai's tourism department.
Nearly twice as tall as the London Eye, it is the largest of its kind in the world.
Its 48 passenger cabins, all of them air-conditioned, can carry around 1,750 passengers on a single ride.
Ticket prices range between 100 dirhams (about $27) and 4,700 dirhams (about $1,280), with luxury passes and private cabins on offer.
"The view was very beautiful from above," said Mohammad who experienced the 38-minute ride before it closed, adding however, that it moved "too slowly".
'Heavier than island'
With no official explanation, rumours are rife on the Ferris wheel's apparent technical issues, especially among employees at Bluewaters.
They all spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions from authorities or their employers.
"This is a man-made island. I heard that (the wheel) is heavier than the island itself, that's why it is very dangerous," said a waiter at a nearby restaurant, adding that it had been noisy during its few months of operation.
"Now... it's only for show, just for the lighting and that's it".
The giant wheel, made of more steel than the Eiffel Tower, features prominently on the list of Dubai's top tourist attractions.
They include the Dubai Frame monument and Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
Patrick Clawson, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said official silence on the Ferris wheel suggested a complicated problem.
UAE authorities are generally "quick to provide information if they" have a solution, he said.
But with the Dubai Eye, "whatever the problem, the authorities are not confident they have a solution," he told AFP.
© 2023 AFP
16 Comments
Login to comment
Tell_me_bout_it
cracks are opening on the financial might of the Dubai/UAE?
Paustovsky
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Mr Kipling
In Dubai nothing is as it seems, everything is a facade.
PTownsend
Dubai’s obscene levels of greed and conspicuous consumption based on oil wealth got by its ruling caste may begin sinking as the seas rise because of climate change the Unitrd lArab Emirates like other fossil states will be bled dry by the china led authoritarian bloc. They had their 15 minutes.
WA4TKG
Been in and out of Dubai more than 15x, luckily, on the / a companies’ nickel.
Unless you’re independently wealthy, or won the Lottery, you can’t afford it.
Bad Haircut
Ran out of oil to grease the hub?
garypen
Big Wheel can't keep on turnin'? Oh no!
Has anybody checked to see if Proud Mary keep on burnin'?
Seigi
The symbol of Dubai's end...
Redemption
Smart to shut it off.
Eastman
no russian passports found nearby?
remember novichok?
konjo4u
Maybe it offers a strategic view, something not intended. Or maybe it just makes everything below look much smaller.
Madverts
"no russian passports found nearby?"
Did the Russians build it ?
Redemption
Scrap it.
RichardPearce
They'll have had experts on building on sand foundations, experts on metal fatigue, experts on bearings, erosion, dynamic loading due to winds.
But did they have anyone with ice road experience?
Because an ice road that will withstand a heavily loaded convoy of big trucks driving across it, and their heavy trailers being parked on it for the season, will give way under an unloaded truck being parked on it for a few hours with the engine running. The small, but persistent vibration from the engine does what the flexing under the large loads won't. And my WAG is that that's why it was shut down, and hasn't been fixed.
Noone1
Getting stuck on that thing must have been an unexpected treat! Anyone check for a wrench?
Desert Tortoise
Hyundai Engineering & Construction built it. The German TUV withdrew its safety certification earlier this year when the axle of the wheel was surrounded by scaffolding. Now it is apparently an expensive light show like Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel.