Welcome to Dubai’s next grotesque display of absolute opulence, built off the back of indentured slave labourers drawn from countries like Nepal and India.

Just the $2,8 billion (R44 billion) to finance Dubai Parks & Resorts, the plans revealed on Tuesday showing such wonders as a Taj Mahal-inspired theatre, a LEGOLAND theme park and other movie-themed attractions.

Mashable rattles off a few more facts:

“Dubai Parks and Resorts is where the best of the east meets the best of the west to create a world of fun and adventure unlike any other,” the [park’s] website reads. The project is, essentially, six theme parks in one…

Officials at Dubai Parks & Resorts hope to attract 20 million visitors by 2020, calling it “the ultimate year-round international tourist destination.”

Sorry to be a vibe kill, but here’s a little more from a TT piece in 2011 on that indentured slavery I mentioned:

There are 250,000 foreign workers in Dubai, drawn mostly from India and Bangladesh. They are indentured servants, in other words, slaves. The usual way to recruit them is to draw them a picture of joy — great wages, fabulous working conditions — and charge them an enormous recruitment fee. Then, when they arrive, the construction companies often steal their passports, deny them their wages and say they must work endlessly to pay for their return home, while living 10 to a room and working in the terrible heat. In Dubai, they cannot change jobs, and they cannot strike; those who do face violence or deportation. Last year [2010], 113 Indians committed suicide in Dubai, or one every three days.

Happy theme parking.

[sources:mashable,tt]