The rich plan to drag the iceberg home, and the richest man's story in Xihong city is really staged
4hw.com.cn: do you remember the bridge section of transporting icebergs to Antarctica in the movie "the richest man in Xihong city"? I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect that the local tyrants of the United Arab Emirates were really going to work. On July 8, the British Daily Mail reported that a relatively small iceberg would be towed to Cape Town, South Africa or Perth, Australia, and then to the United Arab Emirates later in 2019. The final cost of the project will reach US $100-150 million (about RMB 690-1 billion), and another US $60-80 million (about RMB 450 million) will be used for project testing.
It is reported that the United Arab Emirates is one of the driest countries in the world and one of the 10 countries with the most lack of water resources in the world. Nevertheless, with the rapid economic development of the United Arab Emirates, the demand for water for agriculture, industry and life is growing rapidly, and the water consumption of the country is more than twice the global average, which also makes the country face serious drought risk in the next 25 years.
According to the daily mail, the inventor and entrepreneur Abdulla alshehi from the United Arab Emirates revealed that his ultimate goal is to bring an iceberg 1.2 miles long (about 2 kilometers) and 550 yards wide (about 500 meters) to the United Arab Emirates. This is to provide a stable supply of fresh water to the UAE and bring a new tourist attraction.
In an interview with euronews \'s inspire Middle East, Abdul said: 'according to our analysis, it is cheaper to transport these icebergs than desalination (desalination of seawater to produce fresh water). " Abdul added, "desalination plants require a lot of capital investment, and injecting a lot of seawater into the Bay will endanger the survival of fish and marine life."
The national advisor Bureau will use satellites to find suitable icebergs from Hurd Island, 1000 kilometers from the coast of Antarctica, and ship them to Fujairah, the United Arab Emirates, 8800 kilometers away.
Iceberg consignment route
Abdul said that an average size iceberg contains more than 20 billion gallons (about 75.7 billion liters) of water. Although the iceberg is expected to lose about 30% of its quality during its 10-month journey from Hurd island to the coast of Fujairah, it can still provide enough water for 1 million people in five years. After arriving at a specially constructed treatment facility, workers will 'mine' icebergs for fresh water supply.
"We believe that using icebergs to obtain fresh water will bring economic and environmental benefits not only to the UAE, but also to the world." Abdul said.
He also said that in order to prevent icebergs from breaking during shipment, icebergs will be protected by a patent pending 'annular belt'.
Abdul plans to start the test project later this year, first dragging an iceberg to Cape Town, South Africa or Perth, Australia. The operation will cost US $80 million (about 550 million yuan). To complete the final project, it will cost US $100-150 million (about 690-1 billion yuan).
In fact, this is not the first time someone has proposed to 'move icebergs to quench their thirst' & hellip& hellip;
According to previous reports by observers, in order to solve the problem of water shortage in Cape Town, South Africa, Nicholas middot, a South African maritime rescue expert; Nicholas Sloane is planning a solution: using his expertise, drag a huge Antarctic iceberg to South Africa and convert it into urban water.
According to the preliminary budget, the project will cost at least US $200 million (equivalent to about RMB 1.38 billion). According to the plan, Sloan team needs six months to charter the fleet and gather all required resources. The departure time will be from November to December, because the climate in Antarctica will not be so bad at this time, 'we have bet everything, we are ready.' Sloan told reporters.
As soon as the news came out, netizens couldn't help asking: isn't this the real version of the richest man in Xihong city? Some netizens began to worry about whether this practice would damage the ecological environment, and will the iceberg really not melt away when dragged to the UAE?