The second phase of the tallest hotel scheme in the world is to start in Dubai. The Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid ordered the start of the second phase of Emirates Group's twin tower JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road after being shown around the first phase, an 804 room tower, which opened to the public earlier this month. The hotel, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2014 or early 2015, will eventually have 1,600 rooms, making it Dubai's biggest hotel by room number. And at 355 meters tall, the structures will be only 26 meters shorter than the Empire State Building in New York. The hotel also boasts the largest function room in the Middle East and 19 restaurants.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced plans to build a new multi-billion dollar project called Mohammed Bin Rashid City. The new city project will be built by Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties in what is being described as the biggest real estate joint venture in the region. No value has been given for the project but plans include building the world's biggest shopping mall, more than 100 hotels, golf courses, a hub for the arts and centers to develop small businesses. The development will be located between Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Road and Al Khail Road. It will include the "Mohammed bin Rashid Gardens" project, which was first announced in 2008. The original master plan suggested the gardens would be 74.3 million square meters, and would cost US$ 60 billion to construct. It is not clear whether the original plan is being utilized, or a new revised plan would be adopted. The release said the park would be 30 percent larger than Hyde Park in London, which is 1.4 million square meters. The project will also include the Mall of the World. It is anticipated the mall will have the capacity to handle 80 million visitors a year. The project will comprise four key components. The first component will focus on family tourism, and will include a giant park and a family entertainment center set up in collaboration with Universal Studios and hotel facilities. The second component, focusing on retail, will feature the largest shopping mall in the world called Mall of the World. Dubai already boasts the largest mall in the world, Emaar's The Dubai Mall. A third component will include the largest area for arts galleries in Middle East and North Africa while the fourth component will see the development of facilities to provide "an integrated environment for entrepreneurship and innovation in the region". The new city will also include residential areas built on green building standards in terms of energy consumption, waste treatment and conservation of natural environment. It will also feature a number of golf courses under well-known international names.

A groundbreaking ceremony is hosted last week in celebration of the start of construction of Japan's largest solar and wind power plant, located in Tahara City. The major project will be spread over 800 thousand square meters and is estimated to generate 67.5 thousand megawatt hours of electricity each year which would be enough to power 90 percent of the homes in Tahara City with green energy. It is also thought that the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions each year will be approximately 32 thousand tones. The solar and wind power plant is part of a collaboration of seven firms (Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsui & Co, C-Tech Corporation, Toagosei Co, Toshiba Corporation, Toray Industries, and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co) who initiated the project last October, with permission granted in September 2012. Design and construction on the plant is US$ 225 million with the majority of the money being sourced through loans from the Development Bank of Japan. The participating companies will maintain a cooperative technological relationship with the Chubu Electric Power Co., and will acquire new technology and knowledge unique to the nation's largest solar energy generation facility.

Two hydro power plants (HPPs)-namely, Meghri and Gharachikar-will be built on the Arax River with Armenian-Iranian cooperation. The groundbreaking ceremony of Meghri HPP was held on November 8 on the Armenian side of the border, reported News.am. The agreement on the hydro power plant construction received in 2007-2008. Two inter-governmental agreements have been ratified by the parliaments of both countries. Meghri HPP will have an installed capacity 130 megawatts and produce about 800 million kW/h electricity per year. The plant will be constructed in compliance with the internationally accepted environmental standards. The investor from the Iranian side is "Tavan Ab Araz Company" which, in line with the already-signed agreement, will resolve all matters connected with Meghri HPP's construction and starting of its operation. The construction will be carried out within 5 years and, 15 years thereafter, the plant will be transferred to the Armenian side at no cost. Also, an agreement is reached whereby solely local manpower will be used for the plant's construction.

Norman Foster presented proposals for a master plan to bring clarity back to Grand Central Terminal at The Municipal Art Society of New York's annual Summit in New York. Grand Central Terminal is one of New York's greatest landmarks and contains perhaps the city's finest civic space. However, over time it has become a victim of its own success. A building designed to be used by 75 thousand people per day now routinely handles ten times that number with up to a million on peak days. The result is acute overcrowding; connections to the rail and subway lines beneath the concourse are inadequate; and the arrival and departure experience is poor. Added to that, the surrounding streets are choked with traffic and pedestrians are marginalized. The rapid growth of tall buildings in the vicinity has all but consumed the Terminal. Within the station, the proposal creates wider concourses, with new and improved entrances. Externally, streets will be reconfigured as shared vehicle/pedestrian routes, and Vanderbilt Avenue fully pedestrianized. The proposal also creates new civic spaces that will provide Grand Central with an appropriate urban setting for the next 100 years. The 42nd street entrance to the south, where access is severely constrained, will be widened to fill the entire elevation by using existing openings, thus greatly easing accessibility. The access via tunnels on the northern approach from Park Avenue will be rebalanced in favor of pedestrians by creating grander, enlarged underground spaces through the Helmsley building. Lexington Avenue to the east will be tree-lined with wider sidewalks and will benefit from more prominent and enhanced tunnel access to Grand Central Terminal. The idea already mooted to pedestrianize Vanderbilt Avenue to the west would be extended. The street would be anchored to the south by a major new enlarged civic space between 43rd Street and the west entrance to the Terminal and to the north by a plaza accommodating new entrances to the East Side Access lines. Trees, sculpture and street cafes will bring life and new breathing space to Grand Central Terminal. At platform and concourse levels where congestion is particularly acute for travellers on the 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines, we will radically enlarge the connecting public areas, to address the huge increase in passenger traffic in the last 100 years. This will transform the experience for arriving and departing commuters and passengers. A generous new concourse will be created beneath the west entrance plaza on Vanderbilt Avenue connecting directly into the main station concourse. This visionary master plan with its focus on pedestrians and travellers will allow Grand Central Terminal to regain the civic stature that it deserves as a major New York landmark and an appropriate twenty-first century transport hub.