The contract calls for the dredging of 1,000 million cubic metres of sand and placing of 40 million tonnes of rock over an eight-year period. It is estimated that the project will require about half of the world's current dredging fleet to complete the works. Delft Hydraulics, also of the Netherlands, is the hydraulic engineer for the project.

Van Oord has now placed 50 million cubic metres out of a total of 250 million cubic metres for the Deira Corniche, which forms part of Palm Deira, under a contract awarded in 2003.

Palm Deira will have an area of more than 80 square kilometres, making it larger than Manhattan. The new Palm will be 14 kilometres long and 8.5 kilometres wide. The crescent will run for 21 kilometres and consist of 12 districts and six water inlets. Compared with the other palms' 17 fronds, Palm Deira will comprise 41 fronds varying in length. The project will add 400 kilometres of extra shoreline to Dubai.