Dubai Water Canal
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In June 2021 the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced plans to link the cycle track at Dubai Water Canal with a 16-kilometre-long cycling track alongside Jumeirah Beach.
Dubai Water Canal was constructed between 2013 and 2017 at a cost of Dh2 billion in the Jumeirah area of Dubai. The 3.2-kilometre canal connects Dubai Creek to the sea via Business Bay, effectively turning Bur Dubai, Jumeirah 1 and Downtown Dubai into an island.
Part of the canal runs through Safa Park, separating Al Wasl from Al Safa, and continues to the sea between the Jumeirah 2 and Jumeirah 3 districts.
The Dubai Water Canal development was undertaken by Meraas and Meydan, both government owned developers. In addition to the canal the surrounding areas are being redeveloped with various residential, hospitality and leisure projects.
Dubai Gate Tower
Alongside Sheikh Zayed Road the canal will be bridged by the Dubai Gate Tower, a pair of skyscrapers on either side of the canal connected at the top by a sky bridge. It will contain a mix of residential apartments and hotel suites.
Safa Park Redevelopment
Safa Park will have additional residential projects - low-rise buildings on the Al Wasl side and high-rise buildings on both the Sheikh Zayed Road and Jumeirah Beach sides.
Properties on the Market
Sub-communities
There are three sub-communities in Dubai Water Canal. Learn more in the following guides.
Dubai Water Canal Location
The map below shows the location of Dubai Water Canal and just below are summaries of the nearest attractions, parks, beaches, golf clubs and cinemas.
Local Schools
Dubai Water Canal has many schools nearby including Horizon English School Dubai at 0.4 km and JSS Private School LLC at 0.6 km.
In terms of performance there are seven schools nearby that have achieved either of two highest government inspection rating of 'Very Good' or 'Outstanding' including Horizon English School Dubai which has a rating of 'Outstanding' and Jumeirah English Speaking School which also has a rating of 'Outstanding'.
Things to Do
We've partnered with LadiesNightDubai.com and BrunchCrunch.ae to give an overview of the current Ladies Nights and Brunch offers in the vicinity of Dubai Water Canal.
Nearby neighbourhoods
Explore communities that are either adjacent or close to Dubai Water Canal.
Masterplan
A look at the original masterplan published by the developer at the time of the launch of Dubai Water Canal.
Design Stage
Images depicting the initial concept designs for Dubai Water Canal.
Projects often go though a number of design revisions as they progress and developers may or may not honour their original plans when it comes to architectural designs, amenities and landscaping. The images below are provided as a means to compare the original plans with the realised development.
Dubai Water Canal History
The first phase of the Dubai Canal, a 9km extension of the Dubai Creek from Ras Al Khor through Business Bay to Sheikh Zayed Road, was launched in January 2005 and completed at the end of 2007.
The final 6km stretch of the canal was put on hold owing to the global financial crisis of 2008-9 and not begun until 2014. It was inaugurated in November2016.
The majority of the work on the new portion of the canal was undertaken by Belgian contractor BESIX, through its local venture Belhasa Six Construct, in two main packages of work. The first involved diverting all the underground utilities and carrying out canal excavation while three road bridges over the canal crossings, Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road, werebeing completed.
The second package involved treating the water in Business Bay, which had become stagnant and over salinated since 2007, before releasing it safely back into the sea. The over salinated water was pumped from the Business Bay lagoon to a mixing basin near a newly created peninsula at Jumeirah where it was blended with seawater to reduce the salinity before being discharged into the sea. This process took two months plus another month to pump normal seawater back into the lagoon.
The road bridges were completed between April and July 2016 allowing the land below the bridges to be excavated before the canal was finally connected to the sea.
The quay walls were made using precast concrete blocks weighing 40 to 50 tonnes each. Every night during the construction period 30 to 50 blocks at a time were made in a special facility in Warsan.
There is a ten metre wide promenade either side of the canal beyond which the land can be safely excavated for construction of buildings alongside the canal.
The three pedestrian bridges and the canal promenades were constructed during the six months before the canal was inaugurated.
The Dubai Canal is 3.2 km long, 80m to 120m wide and 4m deep. There are three road bridges and three pedestrian bridges crossing it. At Jumeirah, 250,000 sq m of land has been reclaimed from the sea, on which an 800m new beach has been created. The project involved 2.8 million cubic metres of excavation, and the production of 9,400 concrete blocks.
Construction History
See the development of Dubai Water Canal in photos.
The canal opened on 9th November 2016 after three years’ of excavation and construction.
In July 2016 the third road bridge over the Canal, the Jumeirah Bridge, was opened as part of Phase II of the project. The bridge carries three lanes in each direction and clears the Canal by 8.5 metres to allow shipping to navigate the waters around the clock.
Two other road bridges spanning the Canal were opened earlier in the year. The 800-metre southern bridge on Sheikh Zayed Road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi carries eight lanes in each direction, and the Al Wasl Bridge carries five lanes, three in the direction of Dubai, and two in the direction of Abu Dhabi.
Foot bridges have been built at different locations, including a suspension bridge with a huge arch built above the canal.
Here are some construction statistics according to the Dubai RTA:
- 150,000 tons of cement used
- 4,650 workers
- 20 million hours worked
- 25,000 tons of reinforcement steel used
- 7,800 million litres of water held in the canal
- 80-120 metres canal width
- 5 pedestrian bridges
- 5 marine transport stations (Sheikh Zayed Road, Safa Park, Al Wasl, Jumeirah and Dubai Canal)
- 3.2km canal length
- 3 road bridges
- 3 million square metres of sand extracted
Dubai Water Canal in the News
Dubai Water Canal Buildings
We currently maintain records for 14 building developments in Dubai Water Canal.
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