The Ain Dubai Ferris Wheel has long since stopped working. (Source: SCMP)
Two years ago, the city of Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) built the Ain Dubai ferris wheel (the Eye of Dubai), which is said to be the largest in the world, to attract tourists here.
However, a few months after opening, this wheel mysteriously stopped working. Ain Dubai's official website only briefly states that the ferris wheel will be "closed until further notice."
It is known that Ain Dubai ferris wheel was only temporarily closed for a month. But then it was postponed indefinitely its reopening.
The people behind the project, which opened in 2021, declined to answer related questions.
At the restaurants, shops and cafes built around this attraction, it is doubtful whether the work that took six years to build will ever come back to life.
“Last year, it was promised to us that in winter the rotation would be back up and running. But for now the answer is it will work next winter,” said one salesman, who asked not to be named. "But we're not sure… it'll actually work again."
Ain Dubai is located in Bluewaters – an artificial island in Dubai, designed as a shopping, residential and entertainment hub. For more than a year, the entrance to this tourist attraction has remained closed, with ticket booths abandoned. Only a small number of tourists visit this place out of curiosity.
In a city full of record-breaking landmarks, Ain Dubai is no exception. The building is 250 meters tall, with each of its bases measuring the length of 15 buses combined. This ferris wheel is almost twice the height of the famous London Eye, making it the largest ferris wheel in the world.
Ain Dubai has 48 passenger cabins, all air-conditioned. They can carry about 1.750 passengers at a time. Fares to use the ferris wheel are about 100 dirhams (650 thousand dong) for standard class and 4.700 dirhams (30,4 million dong) for luxury, in a private cabin.
This giant Ferris wheel is built with more steel than the Eiffel Tower of France. It features prominently on lists of Dubai's top tourist attractions, which include the Dubai Frame monument and the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa.
It is a pity that the special ferris wheel Ain Dubai cannot operate soon and when the Dubai government remains silent about this, public interest will only increase in the near future.
