Groundbreaking for Dubai Expo next year: Sources

Dubai - Dubai becomes World Expo Host City today.

DUBAI IS ALL set to become an official World Expo Host City after receiving acknowledgement from Bureau International Des Expositions (BIE) in Paris today to stage six-month long exhibition coinciding with the golden jubilee of the UAE in 2020.
A high-level UAE delegation will attend the historic ceremony in the French capital to receive the official confirmation memo to host first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The event, which is expected to add $23.4 billion to the UAE's gross domestic product, marks the real countdown to the exhibition scheduled to start on October 20, 2020, and will continue until April 10, 2021.
Sources told Khaleej Times that the government is set to roll out a series of activities to stage a successful exhibition under the theme 'Connecting minds, creating the future'. The mega event will be 10 per cent larger in size than the recently concluded Milan Expo and will create 277,000 jobs, mostly in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
Ground breaking for Dubai Expo next year: Sources
"The ground-breaking ceremony for the World Expo site in Jebel Ali is scheduled in first quarter of 2016 and it will indicate building of the physical legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai," the sources said, adding that the years 2016 and 2017 will focus on finalising the design of the site.
Elaborating the schedule, they said heavy construction work on the Expo site will start in 2018 to lay down the infrastructure and shape up the buildings. In 2019, international participants will start developing their own spaces within the site.
"Expo site will become an active and inspiring destination by early 2020," according to the sources.
As per details announced earlier, the Expo site will comprise 438 hectares, including approximately 200 hectares of gated exhibition area. The site can accommodate 250,000 people per day. However, on average 135,000 visitors per day are expected during the exhibition that will lift the tally to 25 million visits during the six-month period.
Under the plan already approved by BIE, the government has a busy calendar after becoming the official host city of World Expo. It will continue the Business Connect initiative, which was launched in September, to arrange workshops and meetings in early December and the first quarter of 2016 to raise awareness about the business opportunities arising from the mega event.
"The first wave of Expo Live will take place in first quarter of 2016. This includes consultations with leaders in the subthemes on some of the issues that the challenges should address," sources said, adding that the Expo Live challenges are expected to take place later in 2016.
"Expo 2020 Dubai will start engaging with participating countries soon after receiving an official acknowledgement and plans one-to-one meeting with each country. It aims to have more than 180 nations at the expo," according to the sources.
muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai