DUBAI, the Gulf emirate best known for its extravagant architectural projects and scorching temperatures, announced Tuesday it would build the world’s largest indoor ski resort, with a 1.2-kilometer run.

    Dubai’s current indoor ski resort, opened in 2005, remains the largest in the world, according to the Guinness World Records website, boasting a 400-meter slope.

    The slope runs year-round, despite summer temperatures in Dubai that can top 45 degrees Celsius.

    The new covered ski resort comes as part of a scheme dubbed Meydan One, also to include the world’s tallest residential tower at 711 meters, a dancing fountain sweeping up to 420 meters, a vast shopping center, a 350-room hotel and a marina, according to a government statement.

    Estimated to cost of up to 25 billion dirhams (US$6.8 billion), the project is to extend from the Meydan race track in the emirate’s desert to Burj Khalifa, the world’s highest tower, reported Dubai daily Al-Bayan.

    “In a city which never stops innovating, today’s announcement is significant for the future of Dubai and the UAE,” Meydan chairman Saeed al-Tayer was quoted as saying in UAE-based newspaper, The National.

    The first phase of the project, eventually to house up to 78,000 residents, should be completed in the next five years, in time for the UAE’s hosting of World Expo 2020, according to its promoters.

    (SD-Agencies)