More great planning

There's another - yet another - example of the lack of communication, the lack of planning, that causes so many problems to business and to people in general here in Dubai.

There's a report in EmBiz247 today about the Palm Jumeirah monorail, saying that over 90% of the work has been completed. The 5.4 kilometre track runs along the palm's trunk out to the top of the crescent.

Work only started in 2006, so the engineers and the construction gangs have done a great job.

And the planners?

Just to backtrack for a second, Jumeirah Palm's population in its hotels and residences is projected at more than 70,000. The monorail will initially carry up to 2,400 people per hour in each direction, which at full capacity will rise to 6,800.

So we're talking about a lot of people living on and moving on & off the island.

The RTA's Public transport system of metro, bus, tram and water is also well under way - metro more than 50% built, thousands of buses ordered, tram routes finalised and so on.

So those things were all carefully thought about, discussed and planned way back at the beginning, right?

Today's report tells us that 'a senior spokesperson' for Nakheel said...wait for it..."discussions were ongoing over how The Palm Jumeirah monorail system can connect with the Dubai Metro or with the Al Sufouh tram line."

Yep, it's all into the final stages of construction and discussions are ongoing about how and with what they can actually connect.

So the initial plan was what? Thousands of people each hour get off the monorail at the end of the Trunk...and...?

Didn't the planners communicate with each other right at the beginning? You know, stuff like "we're both planning mass tranport systems, how can we connect them?" Why are they in discussion at this late stage?

My head hurts thinking about it. You can read it all for yourselves here.