Dubai's Creek as it used to be

Dubai Creek in 1965 - a waterway lined with dhows being loaded with cargoes - abras ferrying passengers from one side to the other - all the many water based activities that makes the "Venice of the Middle East". But Dubai's Creek was not always like this.....

In the mid 1950s Dubai's Creek filled with sand becoming very shallow and difficult to navigate. Dubai's trade was affected. Diera's coastline was eroding and buildings and roads along the coast were threatened. Dubai's Merchants and People were complaining.

Sheikh Rashid solved the problem by employing Overseas AST to dredge Dubai Creek to 20 feet deep and make it navigable again. Dredge material was pumped ashore to reclaim new land areas on both sides of Dubai Creek. Dredged material was also used to recover Diera's Coastline and build the Diera Corniche.

The dredger has started work. Dubai had few buildings in the early 1960s.

Overseas AST started by building a sheet pile wall in the Diera side of Dubai Creek.

The new wall was built away from the side of the Creek to leave a space to be filled with sand pumped from the bottom the Dubai Creek.

Here the Dredger is working and pumping sand behind the sheet pile wall.

Steel Sheet Piling was used to construct new Creek side walls. Dredged material pumped into the space behind this new sheet piling wall created new land areas alongside Dubai Creek.

Manual Labour prepared steel sheet piles for building Dubai Creek's new walls. Labourers were sub continent expatriates, many probably illegal immigrants.

Strongly designed and constructed new Creek side wall enabled new land areas to be created behind the walls. Here new land areas are being built on the Diera side of the Dubai Creek.

This unique photo shows the sheet piling wall in position before the dreged material is pumped into position.Workers' boats can sail on both sides of the wall.

This is the completed area on Deira side. New land areas reclaimed from Dubai Creek provided a new Creekside road in Diera.

Reclamation started in Deira and worked its way out to the coastline. This photo shows how Dubai Creek used to be. The upper part of Dubai Creek was dredged at a later stage.

Reclamation and new construction provided purpose built Abra Boarding Stations. Passengers no longer had to climb across rocks or risk getting their feet wet when boarding an Abra.

This photo was taken after the Al Maktoum Bridge opened in 1963 and shows the Customs Area being deveoped.

Reclamation provided new cargo handling and storage area on Dubai side of Dubai Creek. Barges with cargo discharged from deep sea Freighters anchored offshore could be towed to this new Customs area and discharged quickly. This new facility enabled Dubai's Trade to grow.

The Customs Area is already in use even though construction work is still underway.

Here the reclamation is progressing out of Dubai Creek and into Deira's Coastline. The sheet piling forming the Creek wall is in place and land area behind the wall is beginning to grow.

This photo shows how dredging Dubai Creek changed the shape of the Diera side of Dubai Creek. Newly reclaimed land with new buildings can be seen.

Diera side of Dubai Creek changed considerably with the addition of new reclaimed land whereas Dubai side of the Creek benefitted mainly by having the Creek walls improved.

Gray Mackenzie's office buildings and a new girls school are already built on the reclaimed land.