# Dubai Remakes The World



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Dubai Remakes The World*
The tiny emirate is exporting its development model, glam shopping, indoor skiing, loose rules and all. 
By Emily Flynn Vencat; With Jessica Au in London 
23 October 2006
Newsweek International

It promises to be the epitome of Dubai glitz: a golf-course-cum-ski-resort rising from the desert sand, complete with towering glass-and-chrome conference buildings, exclusive shopping streets, luxury hotels, fake beachfronts, giant water parks and millionaires' gold-encrusted villas. But Emaar--Dubai's largest property group--isn't building this Arabian oasis anywhere near the United Arab Emirates. This is Oukaimeden--in Morocco. It's also a near image of what real-estate analysts are calling "New Dubais" in Syria, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Turkey and half a dozen other countries. 

Dubai has already built a resort of man-made islands in the shape of a palm tree so large, it is visible from space. Another resort shaped like a map of "The World" is coming. Now the city-state is taking its taste for property as spectacle worldwide. Earlier this year Dubai's big three companies--Emaar, Dubai Holding and Dubai World, all controlled by the ruling Maktoum family--announced plans to spend $40 billion on luxury projects in Pakistan, including two giant man-made island resorts off Karachi. This summer Dubai made a $19 billion commitment to develop Moroccan resort towns like Oukaïmeden, an improbable oasis for golf and skiing in the Atlas mountains. The emirate is playing the lead role in constructing the $27 billion King Abdullah City on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia--the largest private development in the kingdom's history. 

The vision everywhere is exactly the same: glamorous, palm-covered, Dubai-style gated communities. Each of them will boast every luxury amenity imaginable--from Rodeo Drive-style designer shopping streets to five-star spas and first-class business facilities--in order to attract foreign tourists, multinational corporate offices and bundles of direct investment. Like Dubai's Media or Internet City free zones, many of the new developments are adopting internal rules to entice foreigners--like legalized drinking and gambling in otherwise Islamic countries. Local officials aren't quibbling. In order to sustain the high-end nature of the properties, Dubai companies are also investing in cleaning up nearby areas, building roads, and creating jobs. 

The ambition is undeniable, but is there demand for such extravagant developments? "Cynicism about the 'Dubai model'--that it was a bubble--is dead," says Andrew Jeffreys, CEO of the Oxford Business Group, a regional consultancy. Jordan, Algeria and Syria face a severe shortage of luxury apartments and office spaces for rich locals, expat oil tycoons, Gulf millionaires wanting second homes or large businesses. In Syria, rents in small business towers are now as high as downtown Los Angeles. "It's not 'build and they will come,' " says Jeffreys, "It's 'build and they're already here.' " 

At the same time, Dubai's home-property market is peaking. Experts predict saturation as soon as two years from now, meaning the U.A.E.'s billionaires are being forced to look abroad for tomorrow's hottest real-estate deals. On top of that, the global oil boom, which has seen prices nearly triple since 2002, has lined tycoons' wallets with cash ripe for investment. "The market in the U.A.E. has reached a very critical stage, and investors have realized it's time to take their skills and talent elsewhere," says Ali Al-Abdulrazzaq, the World Bank's head economist for the gulf. In total, outward investment from the U.A.E. is on track to double to nearly $8 billion in 2006. And other oil-rich states, most notably Qatar, with its fast-growing property firm, Diar, are following close behind. 

The other key to Dubai's lightning expansion is the fact that their investors are among the most daring in the world, and some of the only ones willing to take multi-billion-dollar chances on politically unstable, war-prone countries with dangerously fickle financial regulations. Take Dubai firm Damac Properties' 27-story condominium project in Lebanon. Damac's gaudy interior designer, Ivana Trump, had been planning a gala opening for the luxury address when Israel started bombing in July, and shut the party down. That's exactly the type of risk that Dubai developers are willing to take. "Dubai likes to dream with its eyes wide open," says former Wall Streeter David Jackson, CEO of Istithmar, one of Dubai World's international investment arms. "You hear investors in the West bemoaning the fact that they don't have yield or growth, but they have to get out of Pittsburgh." 

Sometimes way out. In Syria, Emaar's glittering Eighth Gate project outside Damascus, featuring a 35-story skyscraper, will cost half a billion dollars alone. Nakheel, Dubai World's property arm, made its first move outside the U.A.E. this year with the newly formed Nakheel Hotels and Resorts, which will open its first branch in Djibouti on the east coast of Africa before the end of the year. "We have the perfect formula," says Naaman Atallah, Emaar's director of sales, "and now we are exporting it." 

At Emaar's exclusive Amelkis development in Morocco, a chic golf club overlooks brand-new Marrakech-red villas filled with Dubai staples, like swimming pools with spouting concrete fountains, marble floors and imported gold statues. Waafa Snibla, the director of Emaar Morocco, oversees construction on a busy Sunday afternoon. "When you bring two things together," she says philosophically, speaking of Dubai's relationship with Morocco, "the next generation is more intelligent and more beautiful." The world's New Dubais also boast the advantage of a very rich parent--one with an ever-ready checkbook. That makes their future very pretty indeed.


----------



## Vanman (May 19, 2004)

This is not good news. What are the environmental implications for building so many towers/ resorts/ golf courses/ INDOOR SKI HILLS in the middle of deserts. I mean I thought there were enough in Dubai as it is but the fact that this type of development is spreading is kind of scary to me. For starters where is all the water for countless fountains/pools/golf courses going to come from?And Imagine the massive amount of energy that will be needed for air conditioning alone.


----------



## Cristovão471 (May 9, 2006)

don't they desalinise all their water?


----------



## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Bad idea...


----------



## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

This has already been around for years. It's well underway


----------



## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

People keep in mind, that all your countries release all your sawage water in the sea, lakes or rivers. 

Dubai has no rivers or lakes and the sea shore is limited and already developed for turism use so the only way to get rid of sawage water is to treat it and use it for irrigation.

- Bigger the city, bigger the volume of sawage water produced.
- Bigger the volume of sawage water, bigger the volume of treated by-product water available for irrigation.
- Bigger the volume of water available for irrigation, equal to more and more parks and Golf courses being build.


----------



## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

virtual said:


> Bad idea...


What is so bad about investing money in other countries? More investments = more development = more employments = better living condition for the locals, while bringing proffit for the investors.

It is a win - win situation

...

*Unless someone happens to think that the rest of the World don't deserve what the developed part of it, takes for granted*.


----------



## pakboy (Apr 22, 2004)

there projects in pakistan are enormous


----------



## DG (Sep 2, 2005)

Dubai rules!!


----------



## Vanman (May 19, 2004)

AltinD said:


> What is so bad about investing money in other countries? More investments = more development = more employments = better living condition for the locals, while bringing proffit for the investors.
> 
> It is a win - win situation
> 
> ...


It's not that anyboody is against development in that part of the world, my point is that Dubai development should not be the new model for the mideast.It's very unsustainable and mainly benefits the rich. I really like classical Middle Eastern architecture as opposed to the flashy towers that any random architect from around the world might have designed


----------



## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

AltinD said:


> What is so bad about investing money in other countries? More investments = more development = more employments = better living condition for the locals, while bringing proffit for the investors.
> 
> It is a win - win situation
> 
> ...


Dubai is a very bad model to follow if impoverished countries want to provide all their citizens with a decent lifestyle, in other words eliminating poverty. I don't want to go into details because this is not the good forum.


----------



## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

AltinD said:


> People keep in mind, that all your countries release all your sawage water in the sea, lakes or rivers.
> QUOTE]
> 
> I beg your pardon? Some cities have sewage treatment facilities.


----------



## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Vanman said:


> This is not good news. What are the environmental implications for building so many towers/ resorts/ golf courses/ INDOOR SKI HILLS in the middle of deserts. I mean I thought there were enough in Dubai as it is but the fact that this type of development is spreading is kind of scary to me. For starters where is all the water for countless fountains/pools/golf courses going to come from?And Imagine the massive amount of energy that will be needed for air conditioning alone.


Actually, I admire these "unique" developments. Dubai has a development drive that, for the most part, has been lost in most of the West thanks to NIMBYs...it isn't scary at all to me. People used to think that building supertalls were weird at a time...but not anymore. They are trying new things.


----------



## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

Taller said:


> AltinD said:
> 
> 
> > People keep in mind, that all your countries release all your sawage water in the sea, lakes or rivers.
> ...


----------



## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

virtual said:


> Dubai is a very bad model to follow if impoverished countries want to provide all their citizens with a decent lifestyle, in other words eliminating poverty. I don't want to go into details because this is not the good forum.


You mean having a Goverment that actually tries to develope and advance the country? 

Plus what they are doing is just catering to a demand already existing on those countries, where the local Political and business class is incapable or unwilling to cater.


----------



## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

Pretty soon, that bubble over Dubai will be popped.


----------



## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

:doh: we had this for ages and again and again.

Dubai's development is by no means "unsustainable" and the water issue, is not something which is worse than in other cities as altin has explained.

in fact, as for AC, what would be your opinion on scandinavian countries which have to heat...

Towers are much more efficient than Villas when it comes to that btw.


----------



## Emirati_Girl (Apr 26, 2006)

i can smell a jealous here :sleepy:

We have the money and the abitlites to build anything we want so why not .. does anyone have any problem with that.. why u care so much about my country :sleepy: 

if we want to have a fun and bulid whatever we want we will do that without any premission from anyone..

we have to care ( the emiratis and who live in our society) not anyone else..


----------



## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

I find this to be more of dellusion, b/c there is no such thing as an everlasting economic boom. BTW, the UAE might be doing good ecomonically, but it way behind politically. As long as it keeps a hereditary government, it will always be a third world nation no matter what.


----------



## djm19 (Jan 3, 2005)

Arent many of Dubai's buildings made with cheap (almost slave) labor from asia?


----------

