The vision of The Palm project is turning to reality in Dubai with more than 80 per cent of The Palm, Jumeirah's reclamation and more than five per cent of The Palm, Jebel Ali's reclamation having now been completed.

'Throughout the past year construction has been taking place 24 hours a day to ensure that the project meets the challenging deadlines set,' said Saeed Ahmed Saeed, managing director-projects for The Palm.

'We are extremely pleased to say, that as of the end of 2002 we were ahead of schedule and the majority of reclamation of the first of the two islands is significantly finished'.

All fronds are in place underwater and many of the critical stages of The Palm, Jumeriah's reclamation have been completed, he said.

This year is set to be a busy, but exciting one for the project, said Saeed. ''We hope that by the end of the year we will be able to present satellite photos displaying the first completed island,' he added.

According to Saeed some plots on the residential fronds and crescent are ready for infrastructure and construction to commence, and there are plans to begin building model villas on the top two fronds shortly.

'We have experienced and dedicated teams in place taking care of all aspects of the projects' construction, from the villas to bridges and everything in between. We are aiming to move from phase 1 (reclamation) into phases 2 and 3 (infrastructure and construction) as quickly as we possibly can,' he continued.