The Burj Khalifa (some of you may know it as the Burj Dubai before it was renamed Burj Khalifa) has finally opened its doors amid fanfare and fireworks. The building is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m, some 300 m taller than its nearest rival, Taiwan’s Taipei 101. It cost over US $1.5 billion to construct and has already made headlines all over the world.
The Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa as Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, announced that the name would honour the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also Ruler of Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Khalifa had very little to do with the building BUT Abu Dhabi has rescued Dubai three times in the last twelve months, first buying $10 billion in Dubai bonds, then lending $5 billion, and on December 14 making $10 billion available for payment of immediate debts.
Not everyone is raving about the Burj khalifa with the Human Rights groups’ objections of the ill-treatment of 12000 labourers and the environmentalists protesting against the already enormous carbon footprint of Dubai. Still its a nice view if you can get all the way to the top.
