It’s Dubai all the way, but for the shouting. From all available indications, the dice has turned in favour of Dubai to host the prestigious Expo 2020. A final round of inspections has been gone through and even in this round, reportedly everything has gone in Dubai’s favour.
According to The National, a six-strong team from the Bureau International des Expositions, which oversees world expos, spent five days in Dubai gathering information about the bid and holding high-level talks.
The inspectors have prepared reports on each city. The inquiry missions and reports are key elements in the selection process. The reports have not been made public, but according to The National, the inquiry mission team has concluded that a Dubai expo had the potential to leave a valuable legacy for the global community.
A decision in favour of Dubai will prove to be a landmark in the future history of Dubai. It might well be a new turning point for the emirate, which despite a number of setbacks, has come on top of all the troubles and resumed its march forward, a fact that stunned both supporters and critics.
Dubai is one of four candidate cities still in the running to host Expo 2020. The others are Ekaterinburg in Russia, Izmir in Turkey and Sao Paulo in Brazil. The inspectors who visited Izmir praised elements of the bid but said a further study should be carried out on the planned on-site transport system to ensure the safety of visitors. Although Dubai planned to build more hotels by 2020 the accommodation already available in the city would exceed the needs of expo participants and visitors.
The team that went to Sao Paolo identified the city’s transport infrastructure as one of the project’s most challenging elements, but noted the authorities’ commitment to solving this issue. The report on Ekaterinburg was largely positive, The National said.
Dubai has drummed up significant support for its bid through a global campaign. n May the UK became the first country to announce officially that it was supporting the Dubai bid. The British foreign secretary William Hague said: “We assess that the Dubai bid is exceptionally strong: focused on global connectivity and accessibility, underpinned by its geographical location and its position as a global logistics and transport hub.
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