It will take two weeks to flood the Palm Cove Canal, which is 7.5 kilometres long and 140 metres wide. It will connect to the four main waterways within Dubai Waterfront, including the first, 23-kilometre-long section of the Arabian Canal.

Dubai-based Limitless is responsible for building the rest of the $11bn canal.

“The Waterfront will have 30 kilometres of canals in total with five major access points. The Palm Cove Canal is the first access point to all these canals,” says Matt Joyce, managing director of Nakheel.

Belgium’s Jan De Nul is the contractor for the Palm Cove Canal. The UK’s Mouchel is the consultant (MEED 24:4:08).

Nakheel is in talks with contractors to excavate the remaining canals within the Waterfront developments. Jan De Nul and Van Oord of the Netherlands are understood to have been approached.