#UAENews Olympic dream: Grade six students come up with 100-page report on how the emirate can bid f… http://bit.ly/cFV6Xl #knet #IHDubai

#UAENews Olympic dream: Grade six students come up with 100-page report on how the emirate can bid f… http://bit.ly/cFV6Xl #knet #IHDubai

The engine of the black Corvette revved to a gasket-popping roar. Its driver leant out of his window. He was dressed in traditional Arab robes but wore a rubber wizard’s mask. He held an aerosol aloft and directed a jet of party foam into the air. Four-wheel drives plastered in pictures of Dubai’s Royal Family roared their engines back in approval. The cacophony was deafening.

On the opposite carriageway smoke billowed from the spinning back wheels of a new Land Cruiser as the driver pressed the brakes and floored the accelerator. This was the favourite way for many of the fervently patriotic and car crazy Emiratis to mark National Day in Dubai this week, the 38th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the biggest celebrations of the year.

A mile away at the new Marina Yacht Club, Western expats were also working their way into a party mood. Deferential Filipino staff served a foamy lobster broth as an amuse bouche between courses. Beer and cocktails loosened tongues and a knot of dancers formed in front of the band. Tens of millions of pounds worth of powerboats bobbed at their moorings beneath the revelry on the terrace. Behind the boats a dozen skyscrapers framed the view, a few of the lights in their thousands of flats were on. “It’s so beautiful here,” said a pretty young Anglo-Indian woman clutching a large glass of chilled white wine and taking in the scene.

Welcome to the modern equivalent of the last days of Rome. The failure of Dubai World, one of the Emirate’s flagship companies, to honour a debt due last month has rocked this city state to its foundations. By any conventional logic Dubai is now a busted flush…MORE

It was October 2003; the setting was the recently opened Madinat Jumeirah, its lobby strewn with even more rose-petals and incense-bearers than usual. For the weary Dubai hack pack, lured there by the anticipation of free Jumeirah International catering and yet another laser-etched paperweight or pleather business folder, it was clear that Sheikhliness was afoot.

Sharpened pencils and reporters’ notebooks were readied as the crowds descended the elevator into the press conference room. It was packed to the rafters. As well as journalists there were endless VIP guests, businesspeople and white-robed members of the royal retinue.

This was an era of great works of Vision™ – from Dubai Internet City and Media City to Dubai International Financial Centre. The emirate was growing, it was the start of the boom. People were excited about Dubai, they were anticipating great things. So far everything made sense. The direction was clear. Trade, commerce, technology: all areas that Dubai already did or likely could excel at.

And then a lengthy video played, introducing Dubailand. Endless CGI scenes of housing developments were intercut with stock footage of theme parks and shots of Dubai. It was more bewildering than impressive. As it went on, it made progressively less sense. The accompanying speech was no more enlightening.

As the media shuffled out, and started swapping notes, one thing became clear. Everyone had been left with a strange, prevailing sensation of tackiness. (According to one source in a production company that didn’t win the bid, the video was made on the cheap in Asia). Nonetheless, this was an era when everyone believed in Dubai, and when everyone – local or expat – wanted to believe in Dubai.

But no one understood Dubailand. Other than that it appeared to be connected to tourism, it didn’t seem very well defined. And its history has been one of cancellations, cover-ups, shifting goalposts. There was this article by ITP (link goes to archived pdf): “Projects worth billions of dollars have been shelved on the massive Dubailand development” – it was hastily pulled from the web, despite containing quotes from a senior official. Its assertions were never corrected or denied. As one source says in the banned article: “Many [projects] were unfeasible and impractical – the numbers just didn’t work, and they were simply shrouded by the glitz of the idea.”

Looking back, Dubailand is perhaps the defining moment when the Vision™ first faltered. Let us not forget what we were told that day, these are the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:

“I would like to tell capitalists that Dubai does not need investors, investors need Dubai and I tell you that the risk lies not in using your money but in letting it pile up. It is dormant and dead if it is merely a figure in an account. I tell them not to hold onto it and kill it in safes, let it breathe and be active because money is like water – if you lock it up, it becomes stagnant and foul-smelling, but if you let it flow, it stays fresh. If it does not flow, it will become stagnant and its colour will change. When I encourage you to invest, I am not asking you to put your money into a fire – I guarantee that your money will be invested in carefully studied projects. I want to be frank with you – I have the courage to take decisions and to bear the responsibility for the consequences. Do you have the courage to be frank and decisive?”

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Just ask yourself, why would you buy when the charges may be as high as 100k per year for maintenance…

Homeowners in The Cove development in Ras al Khaimah could each face service bills of more than Dh100,000 (US$27,226) a year because the developer must rely on generators to provide power to the luxury resort.

That is more than the average cost of renting a villa in the emirate, which has been beset by acute electricity shortages.

“If they are running the airconditioning during the month, they are having a bill of Dh3000 to Dh4000 a month,” said Ashraf al Agamawy, the manager of the project, which includes a five-star Rotana Hotel.

“We don’t get electricity from the Government and are running over eight diesel generators, which is very expensive.

The Cove in Ras Al Khaimah

It costs me about Dh2.5 million per month.”

The Cove was launched in April 2005 by Orascom Hotels and Development, one of Egypt’s largest developers. It comprises 78 apartments and 188 villas, 75 of which were sold under a form of timeshare agreement with the Rotana Hotel.

Under timeshare agreements, owners are allowed to use their villas for a maximum of four weeks a year…SOURCE

Why does everything bizarre in the UAE happen in RAK?  Seriously?:

Ras Al Khaimah: Palm trees which fall over for no apparent reason are spreading panic among some residents in Ras Al Khaimah.
The Fisheries Section and other RAK departments have announced they will address complaints in the northern parts of Ras Al Khaimah and test palm trees – which are falling over.

Sources from those departments said experts will be despatched to examine some of the trees which have fallen in the northern parts of the emirate including Shamal, Al Rams and Khor Khowair. Residents in these areas have reported several cases where mature palm trees have suddenly fallen to the ground with no clear reason… SOURCE

More than a year ago, Dubai quietly launched a wide-ranging anti-corruption investigation to revitalise investor confidence in the emirate.

The results of the operation so far, revealed to The National, are staggering: 11 investigations or court cases are under way; 34 executives are either in court or on their way there; and Dh3.58 billion (US$950 million) has allegedly been stolen or used as bribe money, according to files from public prosecutors that give the first overview of the whole operation.

Since March 2008, investigators appointed by the Dubai Government have been looking into executives from some of Dubai’s leading real estate and financial firms, a move acknowledged by the Government for the first time a year ago this week. In an online question-and-answer session earlier this year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said the reason was simple: “No one in the Emirates is above the law and accountability.”…SOURCE

I’m forever blowing bubbles
Property bubbles in the sand
They grow so fast, obviously can’t last
But why do I care, I still own the land
People keep on buying
I take all their cash
Oh, I’m forever blowing bubbles
And bubbles always crash

“Nowadays, ten months after the financial crisis came crashing in on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), nearly destroying its shiniest component, Dubai, hundreds of cranes and dredgers have yet to resume work. The Queen Elizabeth II, once the world’s smartest liner, due to become yet another posh Dubai hotel, is a sleeping quayside hulk. Nothing is happening on three of the most recently man-made islands shaped like palm trees off Dubai’s coast that were the latest flashy projects of Nakheel, the emirate’s shaky real-estate developer.”

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Another lucky expat gets a free stay at the Al Wathba government hotel:

A BRITISH businesswoman faces a year inside a squalid Arab prison for having an affair — after her fuming husband shopped her to police.

Sally, who has been married for 14 years and lived in Dubai for 12, told officers she paid for her lover’s flights from the UK to the strict Muslim emirate.

Calling Dubai a “strict Muslim emirate” is akin to describing Amsterdam as a “puritanical Christian state”.

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Dubai will survive the global credit crunch and the UAE Central Bank may subscribe further bonds other than the $10 billion bonds in February to meet the commitments and spending programmes, according to a top professor here.

Dean of Dubai School of Government Dr Tarik Yousef, in an interview with Khaleej Times, said Dubai is not just a city or an emirate. It has gained regional and global importance. Many people, sectors institutions, companies, entities, leaders want to achieve what Dubai has achieved because it is in everyone’s interest. Therefore, Dubai will remain socially, economically and politically a major hub for the world

“Dubai cannot be allowed to fail, and there is a strong commitment to ensure that Dubai is protected and remains attractive. Steps have been taken in Dubai to contain the crisis and set an amazing balance between the impact of the crisis and protecting whatever has been achieved,” Dr. Tarik said.

“Dubai is restructuring its public finance and has so far taken essential steps to reverse the current negative situation. The UAE government as well has shown a sense of seriousness and commitment to the growth and revival. The government has tried to balance everything and done what is right and pragmatic. There has been very little panic and more sense of coordination and thoughtful action.”

He added, “I am sure Dubai and the UAE together are dealing with the plunge effectively. We must remember that their futures are tied and one cannot exist without the other. All the emirates need to come together to face the challenges that we are facing,” he said.

Observing that 2009 is going to be a difficult year for Dubai as for the rest of the world, Dr. Tarik said 2010 may also be a difficult year too.

However, “We are thankfully in a part of the world which doesn’t have to go the IMF for a bailout or for cash,” he said…SOURCE