Reinventing the Wheel: Why Has Building Ferris Wheels Gotten So Hard?
From the time of ancient Greece, Egypt and China, the world’ s great cities have always wanted to be known for having the greatest land marks. Now, one of the most iconic such modern constructions – the Ferris W heel – is the object of desire( and competition) for different metropolis es. But from New York to Dubai, urban planners are finding that building the se spectacular structures is rife with difficulties. Similarly to inventing the spaceship, the uncertainties and difficulties are exponentially grow n up when challenging the bigger W heel.
This is partly because of hard-topredict costs and schedules. Although originally budgeted at $200 m with the opening scheduled by August 2016, the 630- foot high New York Wheel’ s needs have since soared to $580 ma nd now been slated for opening in the beginning of 2018 due to engineering and construction challenges arising from the project’s “scale ,” project CEO Richard Marin has said. Las Vegas’ High Roller was similarly expensive, as the centerpiece of a $550m project that involved entertainment, gaming and hotels (New York Wheel will feature some of the sam e).
Marin told the New York Business Journal that people should not be concerned whether the Wheel “costs a bit m ore or runs a bit late.” T hat is the nature of the business, when such ambitious construction projects are concerned. It happens everywhere. To complete the Wheel, New York authorities are shipping in parts from all over the world, and are thus dependent on the working pace of dozens of subcontractors. In the case of the Las Vegas High Roller (550 feet tall) as well, initial project costs of $200m would almost triple before the project’ s completion.
Often, reality does not match expectations. The New York Wheel construction was meant to start in January 2014 and be finished by May 2016. However, when that provided unreasonably constricting, it was later revised to start in May 2015 and wrap up in April 2018. Las Vegas’ High Roller also went well over the original deadline. The project planners in Dubai have also had to readjust their delivery dates to keep up with reality. Thus while originally meant to proceed in June 2013 and be finished by December 2016, the Dubai Eye Wheel project began in May 2015 and is only expected to be completed by 2018.
The Dubai Eye Wheel recently renamed as‘ A in Dubai ’, the world’ s tall est Ferris Wheel (821 feet ), is meant to be 191 feet taller than its New York rival, with an additional 12 passenger cabins; 48 in all, these cabins are expected to be much larger and m ore spacious than those of the New York Wheel. These facts alone imply huge differences in cost and tim e. Indeed, the thickness and diameter of all steel plate, legs and rims increase accordingly with any increase in general diameter. Thus, what to outside onlookers is a different of a‘ mere ’191 feet between the two projects equals, for project managers and engineers, differences of at least $200 min budget and also a minimum 1 year more for completion.
H ow ever, despite the expanded deadline, and unlike the ongoing New York project, Mer a as Development, the state-backed client planning the world’ s tallest Ferris Wheel have shown no appetite for increasing the original $234 m budget. A comparable project–the Singapore Flyer (541 feet high) had a budget of almost $200m . Fulfilling that project w as a tall order indeed for main contractor Mitsubishi–Taken aka. Not to mention that the Singapore Flyer’s $200 m budget was in “2005 dollars ,” and not counting for inflation.
Given its lack of additional budget, it is thus not clear whether Dubai’ s Mer a as has prioritized the wheel. However, it has been active in raising extra cash for other works. For example, in March, Bloomberg noted that it was raising a $381 mn loan for a separate project, Dubai Creek. In the absence of a more realistic budget, Mer a as’ subcontractors would probably have to absorb the losses in order for the Dubai Eye Wheel to be completed on time. Dubai authorities are hoping that the Dubai Eye Wheel will be a major tourism attraction, up and running w ell in advance of 2020( the date after which they hope to double annual tourism visitors, to 20m tourists per year).
That was the same message that Mer a as Chairman Abdullah Al Habbai gave back in February 2013, when the Blue waters project was approved by Dubai’ s leader, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rash id Al Maktoum .“We have a clear mission and vision to strengthen Dubai’ s global position in the tourism sector… through Meraas’ continued investment into similar mixed used developments, we aim to draw sustained investment and tourism from around the world ,” said Al Habbai. He added that the Dubai Eye Wheel“will serve as yet another iconic structure and will distinctive ly dominate the Dubai skyline.”
The most recent media reports from th eU A Ego vern men ta nd Mer a as remain optimistic about this goal. However, unlike the case with the pragmatic New Yorkers, Dubai authorities have made no budget increases since the project’s original announcement-even as the final project deadline( and work time) has been extended. On the other hand, in New York it was reported late last year that their Wheel’ s proactive development team had just raised an additional $150 million equity round for construction of their own delayed W heel.
There are no similar signs of action in Dubai towards filling a war chest for the Dubai Eye Wheel, while extending the deadlines; whether or not that will lead to a successful outcome remains to be seen. Indeed, if the contractors involved are able to pull off the job as currently budgeted, the Dubai venture may become known as the ‘Miracle Wheel’ someday.
Thus, for now at least, New Yorkers can remain relatively sanguine about the assured future of their mega-wheel. The spectacular sight of the wheel will make another iconic view in a metropolis that is already full of memorable structures, like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. And project backers w ho take the long view can feel comfortable that whatever additional costs and time are required to complete the Wheel will be worth it: the general Stat en Island development program that is complementing the Wheel is certain, in the long term , to pay dividends in years to come, by bringing more tourism and service industries revenue to a long-neglected part of one of America’ s great cities. Thus, while building great Wheels has undoubtedly gotten harder over time, New Yorkers are rolling up their sleeves, and taking the big picture view on what their Wheel will mean to the city and its economic growth.