Construction of the 300 islands began in 2003, only to halt due to the 2008 financial crisis. Though 60 percent of the islands had been sold off to private contractors back in 2008, development on most of these islands has failed to initiate. As of late 2013, only two of the islands had been developed. In January, 2014, Kleindienst Group announced the launch of The Heart of Europe project; by February, 2014, one of Kleindienst Group’s brands – JK Properties’ announced in their monthly newsletter that the project was “well underway”. The first of these series of islands will be Europe, Sweden and Germany with development led by Kleindienst Group, the Developer for The Heart of Europe project. The floating Sea horse villas at St. Petersburg Island are scheduled to be delivered in Dec 2016 and the booking starts at 20%. The resort is meant to create a fully immersive European experience, with outdoor snow, and stores accepting only the EURO as a currency.
The World was supposed to be serviced by four major transportation hubs linked by waterways. Land parcels are supposedly zoned for various uses: estate, mid density, high density, resorts and commercial. A Dubai Infinity Holdings construction planner has stated that developers have been negotiating with Nakheel about temporary siting of a cement batching plant on one of the islands to supply subdivided construction. The plan was for utilities to be routed under water, with water plants at each of the hubs pumping fresh water to the islands. Power was to be supplied by the Dubai Grid and distributed through underwater cables, however as of February 2015 no cables had been laid, so that developers currently have to provide their own power from diesel generators. Waste water and refuse systems are an individual concern for each island. Nakheel Group is itself further developing a resort named Coral Island over 20 islands that make up the North American part of The World. The low-rise development will include a marina and hotel village. The second largest confirmed development is the purchase of 14 islands that make up Australia and New Zealand by Investment Dar of Kuwait. The islands are being terraformed to be developed as a resort named OQYANA. Irish business consortium Larionovo had plans to develop the Ireland island into an Irish-themed resort. The plans include a large internal marina, apartments and villas, a gym, hotel, and an Irish-themed pub. In July 2007 it was announced that the Ireland Island would feature a recreation of Northern Ireland‘s Giant’s Causeway. However, on 25 November 2008 a provisional liquidator was appointed to Larionovo. The islands of Great Britain and Moscow on The World were acquired by Premier Real Estate Bureau in the Summer of 2008. In April 2008, Salya Corporation announced that it had acquired the islands of Finland and Brunei in The World and planned to develop them into fashion-themed resorts. Salya spent about Dh800 million ($218 million USD) to purchase the islands and plans to spend a further Dh2.4 billion ($654 million USD) on development. Brunei Island will be turned into a Fashion TV resort and Finland Island will be turned into a fashion community called FTV palace.
Islands in the project range from 14,000 to 42,000 square metres (150,000 to 450,000 sq ft) in area. Distances between islands average 100 metres (330 ft); they are constructed from 321,000,000 cubic metres (1.13×1010 cu ft) of sand and 386 million tons of rock. Designed by Creative Kingdom Dubai, the development is an area that covers 6 by 9 kilometres (3.7 by 5.6 mi) and is surrounded by an oval-shaped breakwater island. Roughly 232 km (144 mi) of shoreline was created. The World’s overall development costs were estimated at $14 billion USD in 2005. the initial concept of this island is to unite mankind throughout the world regardless of race, ethnicity, and religion. The project was unveiled in May 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed and dredging began four months later in September 2003. By January 2008, 60% of the islands were sold, 20 of which were bought in the first four months of 2007. On 10 January 2008 the final stone on the breakwater was laid, completing development of the archipelago.
