THE WORLD-DUBAİ
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Roads

Dubai has a very large bus system run by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The bus system has 193 routes on weekdays and transports over 30 million people weekly. The Public Transport bus system is large and advanced but not large enough to accommodate the volume of people who use it. This means that in busy areas it is common that at the end of the day commuters may have to wait more than an hour before they can board a bus. Unfortunately the amount of buses does not increase with the same rate as the amount of passengers, which makes this problem worse as time progresses. The (RTA) has announced that Dubai roads will see 620 new buses costing more than one billion dirhams by next year, the new fleet includes 170 double decker buses.

Dubai also has an extensive taxi system, by far the most frequently used means of public transport within the Emirate. There are both government-operated and private cab companies. The Dubai Transport Corporation operates cream-coloured taxis. Some of the private cab companies are Cars Taxi, National Taxi, Cititaxi and Metro Taxi. The meter generally begins as Dhs. 3.80 and is generally charged by distance at 50 fils/km. There are approximately 7500 taxis located in the city.


Metro

There is currently a $3.89 billion Dubai Metro project under construction for the emirate. The Metro system is expected to be partially operational by 2009 and fully operational by 2012. The construction contract for the project was given to Dubai Rapid Link (DURL),[10] a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Also involved are two other Japanese corporations, Obayashi and Kajima, and a Turkish company, Yapi Merkezi. The metro will comprise two lines: the Green Line from Rashidiya to the main city center and the Red Line from the airport to Jebel Ali. The Dubai Metro (Green and Blue Lines) will have 70 kilometers of track and 43 stations, 33 above ground and ten underground. Trains are expected to run every 90 seconds when the project is completed. Recently, the Blue Line connecting Dubai International Airport to the new Jebel Ali Port and Dubai World Central International Airport was announced. The route will run 47 km through Dubailand, but the exact number of stations is unknown. Dubai is building this train system to ease congestion on its road network and to meet the transportation demands of its growing population. Seven monorails are also slated to be constructed to help feed the Metro system, connecting various places such as Dubailand, Palm Jumeirah, et al, to the main track.


A water taxi (Abra) in Dubai.

Ports and water travel

Dubai is serviced by several commercial ports and Dubai Creek is still used by local traders in Dhows:

Mina' Rashid (Port Rashid)
Jebel Ali
One of the more traditional methods of getting across Bur Dubai to Deira is through abras, small boats that ferry passengers across the Dubai creek, between abra stations in Bastakiya and Bani Yas Road, for a nominal charge of 1 Dirham (AED).


Air travel

The Dubai International Airport is a hub for Emirates Airline and has a large Duty Free shopping center. The airport has won numerous awards for its excellence in design and services. A third terminal is currently under construction and is due to open in 2007. The new terminal will be dedicated to Emirates Airline and will fully support the new Airbus A380. When completed this will double the capacity of the airport.

Dubai World Central International Airport, currently under construction, will make a new free trade area within Dubai and will be the centerpiece of the Jebel Ali Airport City. The airport was announced in 2004 and construction began in January 2005. The first part is expected to be completed by 2008. Although initially intended as a predominantly cargo airport, plans are afoot for the new Jebel Ali airport to handle some 120 million passengers per annum within 20 years, and would likely surpass Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, as the world's busiest airport.

Dubai is investing heavily in developing the reach of its airline, Emirates. The idea is to develop Dubai's air transportation ability so that passengers from any city can fly direct to Dubai. When Emirates Airline receives the Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner series aircraft, it will be able to offer direct access to virtually any major city in the world. The airline has placed an order of 45 of Airbus's A-380 'superjumbo' double decker aircraft, the largest of which has a capacity of 641 passengers. The A380 aircraft have already been charted to fly from 2007 onwards. In addition, Emirates has placed an order of 42 of the new Boeing 777 aircraft in November 2005.

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The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based but oil-reliant economy to one that is service- and tourism-oriented has made real estate more valuable, resulting in the property boom from 2004-2006. Construction on a large scale has turned Dubai into one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

The property boom is largely driven by megaprojects — these are just some of many projects planned for Dubai:

Off-shore:
Palm Islands
The World
Inland:
Dubai Marina
The Burj Dubai Complex
Dubai Waterfront
Business Bay
Dubailand
Jumeirah Village


The aspirations of the ruling sheikh are reflected by the ultra-modern architecture of the city; home to iconic skyscrapers such as Emirates Towers, which are the 12th and 24th tallest buildings in the world,[7] and the Burj al-Arab located on its very own island in the Persian Gulf and currently the tallest hotel in the world.

Emaar Properties is currently constructing what will become the world's tallest structure, the Burj Dubai. The final height of the skyscraper is a closely guarded secret — an indication of the developer's resolve to attain the title of the world's tallest building and its intention to hold on to it for as long as possible — but estimates so far point to a height upwards of 810m. Burj Dubai is expected to be completed in 2008. By 17 Jan 2007 it had reached 100 floors. Burj Dubai's neighbour is another behemoth under construction: the world's largest shopping mall — the Dubai Mall.

Also under construction is what is planned to become Dubai's new Central Business District, named Business Bay. The project, when completed, will feature a phenomenal 500 skyscrapers built around an artificial extension of the existing Dubai Creek.

In February 2005, the construction of Dubai Waterfront was announced,[7] it will be 2½ times the size of Washington D.C., roughly seven times the size of the island of Manhattan. Dubai Waterfront will be a mix of canals and islands full of hotels and residential areas that will add 800 km (500 miles) of man-made waterfront. It will also contain Al Burj, another one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Dubai has also launched Dubiotech. This is a new park to be targeted at Biotech companies working in pharma, medical fields, genetic research and even biodefense. The aim of this park is to foster the growth of this sector in Dubai and to utilize the region's talent in addressing this rapidly growing sector.

One of Dubai's recent groundbreaking plans is for a 30-story, 200 apartment skyscraper that will slowly rotate at its base, making a 360 degree revolution once a week. The world's first rotating skyscraper is to be in the center of the Dubailand complex and should be completed by 2009.


There are over 300 stores in the Gold Souk.The International Media Production Zone is a project targeted at creating a hub for printers, publishers, media production companies, and related industry segments. Launched in 2003, the project is scheduled to be completed in 2006.

A new project was announced on May 1, 2006 by the authorities. It is named Bawadi and will consist of a 27 billion US-dollar investment intended to increase Dubai's number of hotel rooms by 29,000, doubling it from the current figure offers now. The largest complex will be called "Asia, Asia" and will be the largest hotel in the world with more than 6,500 rooms.

The first villa freehold properties that were occupied by non-UAE nationals were The Meadows, The Springs, and The Lakes (high-end neighbourhoods designed by Emaar Properties, collectively called Emirates Hills).

Expatriates of various nationalities have been pouring capital into Dubai in the past several years, greatly contributing to the city's prosperity. Iranian expatriates alone are estimated to have invested up to $200 billion in Dubai. [8]

Dubai interests have also purchased large amounts of real estate in foreign countries, in particular snapping up trophy properties in global centers like New York and London. Purchases in 2005 included New York's 230 Park Avenue (formerly known as the New York Central Building or the Helmsley Building) and Essex House on Central Park South.

See the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing's list of developments in Dubai for more information.



Construction

Since 2000, Dubai's municipality has initiated a plethora of construction phases and plans across the entire city of Dubai, predominantly in the Mina Seyahi area, located further from Jumeirah, towards Jebel Ali. Many areas of Dubai are dominated by the large number of construction cranes. Construction in Dubai and the UAE in general is a much faster process than in any Western country. This is partly because Dubai construction companies employ many low wage labourers from the Asian subcontinent for up to 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week.

One of the main reasons for the boom in construction in Dubai is its drive to diversify the economy. The Dubai government does not want to depend on its oil reserves which are largely believed to become exhausted by 2010 and, as such, has diversified its economy to attract revenues in the form of expanding commercial and corporate activity. Tourism is also being promoted at a staggering rate with the construction of Dubailand and other projects that include the making of mammoth shopping malls, theme parks, resorts, stadiums and various other tourist attractions.

Another reason for the construction boom is the recent reversal of a law in 2002 that allows non-nationals of the UAE to own property (not land) in Dubai (albeit freehold and 99 year leases are actually sold to people with ownership still remaining with private companies). The larger of the property tycoons are Nakheel Properties and Emaar Properties. In Dubai, demand is currently outstripping supply by a significant margin and is showing no signs of slowing in the near future. Rents have skyrocketed with the recent inflow of professionals and companies from around the world who are attracted by Dubai's no-tax benefits although rises have recently been capped to 7% per annum up to 2007 under a directive from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Legislation in this area is still developing as the property market for foreigners is relatively new.

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Oil reserves in Dubai are less than one-twentieth those of Abu Dhabi, and oil income represents a small proportion of the emirate's income.

Dubai and its twin across the Dubai creek, Deira (independent at that time), became important ports of call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centres were headquartered in the port area. Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. The city of Dubai has a free trade in gold and until the 1990s was the hub of a "brisk smuggling trade" of gold ingots to India, where gold import was restricted.

Today, Dubai is an important tourist destination and port (Jebel Ali, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbour in the world), but is also increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Transport links are bolstered by its rapidly-expanding Emirates Airline, founded by the government in 1985 and still state-owned; based at Dubai International Airport, it carried over 24 million passengers in fiscal year 2005.


Burj Dubai (under construction) is scheduled to be the world's tallest buildingThe government has set up industry-specific free zones throughout the city. Dubai Internet City, now combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave whose members include IT firms such as EMC Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, Reuters, ARY and AP. Dubai Knowledge Village (KV),an education and training hub, is also set up to complement the Free Zone's other two clusters, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, by providing the facilities to train the clusters' future knowledge workers. Dubai Outsourcing Zone is for companies who are involved in outsourcing activities can set up their offices with concessions provided by Dubai Government. Internet access is restricted in most areas of Dubai with a proxy server filtering out sites deemed to be against cultural and religious values of the UAE - this includes any .il (Israeli) domains, and VoIP services are also illegal and usually blocked. However, areas served by TECOM (an internet service provider) are currently not filtered. This is expected to change early in 2007 according to the TRA (Telecom Regulatory Authority).

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Dubai is unusual, in that its population comprises mainly expatriates, with UAE nationals (Emiratis) constituting the minority. The majority of these expatriates come from South Asia and South East Asia. A quarter of the population reportedly traces their origins to neighboring Iran.[5] Dubai is also home to some 100,000 British and other Western expatriates. The UAE government does not offer any form of naturalization or permanent residence to expatriates. However, foreigners are permitted to purchase and own specifically-designated property without a local partner or sponsor ("freeholds," as described below).

People born in the United Arab Emirates receive the same nationality as their father. Thus those born in the UAE to expatriates are also considered expatriates.

Nearly all of the commercial establishments are run by expatriates with a silent local partner who merely "rents" the business license for a negotiated annual fee without taking part in any capital investment. The numerous free trade zones allow for full expatriate ownership.

There are an increasing number of villas and apartments in areas which allow expatriate property ownership such as the Palm Islands, The Greens, Dubai Marina, and International City). Ownership is either permanent or on a 99-year lease, depending on the area; freehold areas were announced in the press in July.2006.[6] Ownership or lease of a completed residence allows the owner to apply for (but not guarantee) a residency visa on a three-year renewable basis. The Federal Government does not state whether foreigners may or may not own property and has left individual emirates to formulate their own property laws.

Language and religion

The official language is Arabic but English, German, Hindi/Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Persian, Russian and Tagalog are also widely spoken.

Article 7 of the UAE's Provisional Constitution declares Islam the official state religion of the Union. The Government funds or subsidizes almost 95 percent of Sunni mosques and employs all Sunni imams; approximately 5 percent of Sunni mosques are entirely private, and several large mosques have large private endowments. The government distributes guidance on religious sermons to mosques and imams, whether Sunni or Shi'a, and monitors all sermons for political content.

The Shi'a minority is free to worship and maintain its own mosques. All Shi'a mosques are considered private and receive no funds from the government. Within the UAE, Shi'a imams are government-appointed only in Dubai. Shi'a Muslims in Dubai may pursue Shi'a family law cases through a special Shi'a council rather than the Shari'a courts.

There are also large numbers of expatriate Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians. Non-Muslim groups can own their own houses of worship, wherein they can practice their religion freely, by requesting a land grant and permission to build a compound. Groups that do not have their own buildings must use the facilities of other religious organizations or worship in private homes. While the UAE doesn't offer any federal-level method of granting official status to religious groups, the individual emirates may exercise autonomy in officially recognizing a particular religious denomination. For instance, Dubai granted legal status to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1993. Dubai is also the only emirate that has Hindu temples and a Sikh Gurdwara.


Burj Al-Arab behind Al-JumairahIn early 2001, ground was broken for the construction of several additional churches on a parcel of land in Jebel Ali donated by the government of Dubai to four Protestant congregations and a Roman Catholic congregation. Construction on the first Greek Orthodox Church in Dubai (to be called St. Mary's) began at the end of 2005. The land for the construction of the church was also donated by the government to the Greek Orthodox community of Dubai.

Financial support to non-Muslim groups from the Dubai government is limited to donated land for the construction of churches and other religious facilities, including cemeteries. They are permitted to raise money from among their congregates and to receive financial support from abroad. Non-Muslim religious groups are permitted to openly advertise group functions, however, proselytizing or distributing religious literature is strictly prohibited under penalty of criminal prosecution, imprisonment, and deportation for engaging in behavior offensive to Islam.

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