Dubai shipyard firm could build underwater hotels

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai is splashing into the business of underwater hotels again.

The Gulf emirate's state shipbuilding division Drydocks World said in a statement sent Thursday it has signed on with a Swiss company to become the sole Middle East construction contractor of the futuristic hotels.

Switzerland's BIG InvestConsult signed the deal on behalf of partner Deep Ocean Technology, which has developed plans for disc-shaped buildings that include underwater and above-water components.

Financial terms for the deal, signed Wednesday, were not disclosed. Drydocks did not say where or when the first hotels would be built.

A previously announced underwater hotel project planned for Dubai several years ago was never built.