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Agence France-Presse

Two years ago, Dubai’s skyscraper-studded skyline welcomed a Ferris wheel touted as the world’s largest, but it mysteriously stopped turning just months after opening.
The much-touted Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye) was designed as a tourist-luring landmark in the United Arab Emirates’ glam-hub, which is home to the world’s tallest building.
But now it stands idle for undisclosed reasons, its extravagant light fixtures the only parts seemingly still working.
“Ain Dubai remains closed until further notice,” says an official website for the attraction.

“We continue to rigorously work on completing the enhancement works that have been taking place over the past months.”
The wheel was supposed to close for just a month but its reopening has since been postponed indefinitely.
Inside Dubai’s US$204 million ‘Marble Mansion’ – the UAE’s most expensive home
Those behind the project inaugurated in 2021 have failed to reply to enquiries.
At restaurants, shops and cafes built around the attraction, employees remain sceptical that the structure, which took around six years to build, will ever turn again.
“Last year they promised us that in winter it will be open, even now, they are saying that in (the coming) winter it will be open again,” said one employee at a nearby shop.
“But we’re not sure … it will,” said the man who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisal.
The Dubai Eye, built by a consortium of international companies, is located in Bluewaters – a man-made island designed as a retail, residential and entertainment hub.
For more than a year, the main entrance to the attraction has remained closed and ticket booths abandoned. Only a slow trickle of tourists visit the site, snapping pictures of LED lights mounted on its exterior.

In a city filled with record-breaking landmarks, the Dubai Eye stands at a height of 250 metres (825 feet), each of its legs the length of 15 London buses, according to Dubai’s tourism department.
Nearly twice as tall as the London Eye, it is the largest of its kind in the world.
Its 48 passenger cabins, all of them air-conditioned, can carry around 1,750 passengers on a single ride.
Ticket prices range between 100 dirhams (about US$27) and 4,700 dirhams (about $1,280), with luxury passes and private cabins on offer.
With no official explanation, rumours are rife on the Ferris wheel’s apparent technical issues, especially among employees at Bluewaters.
They all spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions from authorities or their employers.
Plot of sand on Dubai’s luxury Jumeirah Bay Island fetches record US$34 million
“This is a man-made island. I heard that (the wheel) is heavier than the island itself, that’s why it is very dangerous,” said a waiter at a nearby restaurant, adding that it had been noisy during its few months of operation.
“Now … it’s only for show, just for the lighting and that’s it”.
The giant wheel, made of more steel than the Eiffel Tower, features prominently on the list of Dubai’s top tourist attractions.
They include the Dubai Frame monument and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
Patrick Clawson, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said official silence on the Ferris wheel suggested a complicated problem.
UAE authorities are generally “quick to provide information if they” have a solution, he said.
But with the Dubai Eye, “whatever the problem, the authorities are not confident they have a solution”.


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Middle East

Mystery in Dubai as world’s largest Ferris wheel stops turning

In a city filled with record-breaking landmarks, the Dubai Eye stands at a height of 250 metres. Photo: AFP

The wheel was supposed to close for just a month. Photo: AFP

There are restaurants, shops and cafes near the attraction. Photo: AFP

Inside Dubai’s most expensive home: the US$204 million ‘Marble Mansion’ is a Versailles-style palace in the ‘UAE’s Beverly Hills’ that ‘only 10 people in the world can afford’

“Only 10 people in the world” can apparently afford Dubai’s “Marble Mansion” – a 5-bed palace built with  more than US$20 million of Italian stone and decorated with 700,000 sheets of gold leaf. Photo: Sotheby’s

The US$204 million ‘Marble Mansion’ is officially the UAE’s most expensive home, according to records

Inside the “Marble Palace” property in Dubai – on sale for over US$200 million

Some 700,000 sheets of gold leaf were applied to the property by 70 skilled workers

The owner’s collection of 400 pieces of art are also up for grabs

The mansion in Dubai’s Emirates Hills was built with more than US$20 million of Italian stone 

The second-largest bedroom suite is 2,500 square feet, and guest rooms are each about 1,000 square feet; one is currently configured to store wine

Plot of sand on Dubai’s luxury Jumeirah Bay Island sells for record US$34 million

People enjoy the sunset with the view of the skyline and the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. Photo: AP Photo

An aerial view of the Atlantis hotel on The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Photo: Reuters

‘More of a Monaco’: how Dubai’s rising cost of living is pricing out expats and creating a playground only for the ultra-rich

Dubai is becoming too expensive for some expats. Above: boats anchored in Dubai Creek surrounded by high-rise buildings in the Gulf emirate. Photo: AFP

Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is experiencing rising rent, food bills and school fees, and wealthy overseas investors are pushing up prices, forcing some expats to downsize or even leave the city. Photo: Getty Images

Dubai saw record property transactions in 2022, largely due to an influx of wealthy investors, especially from Russia. Photo: AFP

Some Dubai residents are moving to neighbouring emirate Sharjah (above). Photo: Shutterstock

About 90 per cent of residents in Dubai are from overseas. A foreign woman walks past stalls selling Emirati souvenirs on the beachfront in Dubai. Photo: Getty Images

Rugby World Cup: Portugal’s speed too hot for Hong Kong to handle at final qualifying tournament in Dubai

Rodrigo Marta scores Portugal’s fourth try against Hong Kong in Dubai. Photo: World Rugby

Hong Kong’s James Sawyer claims the ball at a line-out during his side’s Rugby World Cup 2023 final qualifying tournament game against Portugal in Dubai. Photo: World Rugby

News

World

The Ain Dubai mega-wheel has been closed for more than a year as its operators complete ‘enhancement works’
With no official explanation, rumours are rife on the Ferris wheel’s apparent technical issues


The much-touted Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye) was designed as a tourist-luring landmark. But now it stands idle for undisclosed reasons.
