Dubai Mall – The biggest of all

Mirror mirror on the wall which is the biggest mall? Thus comes the answer “Dubai Mall” situated near the famous incomplete Burj Dubai. Very big (more than 1200 stores), yet very unfriendly when it comes to shopping, browsing, navigating and buying.. If you don’t get lost in the parking lots… then definitely you will when you enter any section of the mall and try to find your way out of it or to the parking lot.. The shops are huge.. big … actually too big for any comfortable or consumer friendly and fulfilling experience. The experience gets lost in the size. But for what purpose? Why is it that shop owners and mall builders think that the bigger the shop, the better? Aside from losing the personal touch, you get lost in the store itself never mind the section of the mall.

Despite its size, the mall has been suffering from footfall and actual buyers among those who visit. Everyone comes to play on the ice rink and see the aquarium. But where are the shoppers? Lately, the mall embarked on a ‘one month’ promotion which from the feedback we had was not necessarily successful. So what are they going to try next?

It will be some time till Dubai regains its ‘tourist’ touch and people are confident enough to start spending lavishly again. Till then, let’s watch and see what will happen in Dubai mall.

What’s with the schools?

I received an email yesterday from my sons’ school informing me that they have again hiked the tuition fees by 9% for 2009/2010. This brings the tuition fee for an 11th grader to AED 65,000 ( 17711 US $). Like one of my friends commented “Enough to get you through the first year in university”. So what is happening here?

It is funny to note that  the school does not provide a valid High School Certificate so  students who intend to apply in North America might have a problem doing so. They need to get through IB with a 5,6 or 7 average (tough). It’s also funny to note that Dubai KHDA, the gov body responsible for vetting the schools gave this school an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating but also allowed it to hike the fees by 9%. Kind of strange. Negative rating= Tuition hike !

But why do this school charge so much? It all dawned on me when I was browsing more schools in Dubai that start or have the word “American’ in them. So that is the key. Put the word “American” in the school name and you have the right to charge as much as you want regardless of the level of education you offer.

Take note.

New Year Festivities Cancelled in Dubai

Hundreds of restaurants, bars, nightclubs have been preparing for this evening only to be told that all festivities are cancelled in solidarity with what is happening in Gaza.  The human side of this gesture is evident, the economic one is high priced. With the economic downturn that the emirate is facing lately, this comes as another blow to business which is trying to make ends meet. In another 15 days, DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival) is bound to start. What is it going to be like? Again, it remains to be seen. Dubai has never been quieter and when you think that things won’t get worse, they actually do. Businesses in Dubai are in a ‘dream-like’ state. One where you suspend your belief that things can actually change in such short time. It seems January is going to give us all a sense of what 2009 would be like. Let’s wait and see.

Pollution Prevails

Sewage dumping and the effect that has on the health of residents and visitors has been the subject of a series of articles in the Dubai media. Polluted beaches and neighborhoods have left people puzzled on what the solution may be. Some media are asking the same questions in hope of getting some response from those concerned. Sewage is an issue not only in industrial or poor areas, but also in tier one residential areas. But is it only sewage that is a cause of concern? You only need to go out of your house in any inhabited area in Dubai just to experience first hand the impact of air pollution. Hanging dust particles, carbon dioxide from car and truck exhausts, fumes from cement and other factories as well as the continuous drilling and excavation have left residents gasping for fresh air. Add to that noise pollution that is the result of cars, trucks and planes passing over residential areas and you have a recipe for an unhealthy environment. There is a price for progress, this is a high one. I find myself asking the same question: what is being done about this?

UAE National ID card (3)

Expatriates in the UAE will have till the end of 2010 to get a National ID card. In parallel, the FNC (the Federal National Council) is contemplating restricting the card to locals. Expatriates in the UAE make up around 85% of the population. However, expatriates are split to two categories based on the authority that is issuing the cards: Professionals and workers. Now that the year is over, professionals who did not get their card will be placed at the end of the line if they apply for it. So what are the issues that need consideration:

1. How do you register 4 million people? The issue here is  having the ability to accommodate such numbers when they apply. The current method neither works nor is popular. What about if they use the census/visa data and divide the country by region/neighborhood? What about if they go further and within region/neighborhood call in people in alphabetical order? What if they approach each company, cooperate with the HR departments and have the employees fill in their applications and present them to the authority? What if they have someone stationed for a day or two in each of these companies to process these applications thus saving 200 days of work for a company that has 200 employees? 

2. Where would the workers/laborers get the money to pay for the Card?  How would a worker who earns 500 or 800 Dirhams a month pay AED 100 for each year of his residency visa? So AED 300 for 3 years. 

3. Who will pay for the ‘day off’ work that each worker will have to take to go in person and apply? You also have to remember that each expatriate who needs to apply for a card will have to lose one day of work standing in line to do that. Who will compensate for that day? Will that be deducted out of his salary? 

4. Is the only way to get people to sign is by threatening to freeze their bank accounts among other things which are not clear? That does not sit well with the majority of the people. This is an invitation for people to remove their money from the local banks and send them back home or to another country. 

5. What added value will the card give on top of the labor card and the residency visa? The government already has information on each legal resident: name, those of dependents, mail address, age, nationality, country of origin, type of job, company he works for, etc.. If the visa holder has a car, then he definitely has a driver’s license which again has all the above information. If these government agencies talk to each other and exchange information, then they would save millions of working hours, money, and avoid disruptions. Coordination is key. 

6. What added value will the card give ‘the applicant”? That has not been communicated yet. Will he be able to get in and out of the country without a passport? What is it that people will have to pay for, queue for, skip work for? What is the benefit?

Littering & Brands Advertising

On a trip to the Safa Park in Dubai today, the first thing we noticed when we came in was the amount of litter scattered on the grass. Lipton tea bags, Masafi water bottles, Pepsi cans, Lays chips bags, Galaxy chocolate wrappings and all sorts of well-known brands. Then the question came up: Are brands encouraging littering in order to promote and advertise their products? If everything is about exposure, then every time you set your eyes on a brand name regardless of the environment then you are being exposed to advertising. The question then: Shouldn’t brands take on the responsibility to curb littering? I guess brands can take on this role by discouraging litter through not only messages on their packs, but also through active cooperation and collaboration with the municipality and through social responsibility programs like cleaning parks and streets. So is it advertising or quality of living that we are after?

Europe & Arabic TV channels

Prior to 1991, countries like the UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman only had official and government owned TV stations. One Arabic channel and one English. These were so censored that people living in these countries at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait did not hear of it till after three days when it was covered by the CNN for the first time. The first Sat feed. The rest, like they say is history. Currently, more than 250 free to air Sat channels air in these countries without any censorship. You can watch the latest news on Arabic news networks like Jazeera or LBC or simply tune in to the official stations in each country, which have also gone SAT free to air, or have a chance to watch American news networks brought by the likes of Orbit. Countless attempts were made to block Sat receivers and dishes and restore the media grip, but the censorship failed. 

Fast forward to 2008 and what is emerging is a new trend of some sort where European countries have decided to open Arabic TV stations. The BBC was the first to open after a failed partnership few years back. Then came the German TV in Arabic, followed by France 24 and now Russia Today (RT). The question is why is it happening? 

The Middle East and Arab countries have climbed a notch on the importance scale of European countries. The proven oil reserves, the high disposable income especially in the Gulf countries and the need to get across a point of view after 9-11 that is different from that of the USA is of extreme importance. The European countries decided not to let the language barrier come between them and the Arabs. Arab countries now are big trading partners of various European countries. They are also big investors in these countries either in joint ventures or completely owned businesses and real estate. European people and companies see in the Middle East a geography that is full of opportunities. Building factories, bringing in and managing technology, etc. So it is important to get the European point of view across in a language that Arabs in 21 countries with a population of more than 150 million understand.  The last question is : Are Arabs watching?

Etisalat slow internet connection (2)

Etisalat technical support are with me on the line. I give the usual complaint about the slow connection and ask about the recent upgrade I’ve done to be able to browse the net. The answer came worse than expected: the network is slow due to problems in some cables in the Mediterranean. What’s new? It is the second time in less than a year that these things happen. Relying on a low bandwidth offer to cut costs is not helpful. Relying on cables period, seems so outdated. Why don’t they use satellite connections to avoid such mishaps or use dual technologies (cable plus sat)  to keep the traffic flowing on the net? The answer is easy: if we can’t do it, no one should or can. Orbit for instance, the encrypted satellite TV network, offers a broadband connection on its receiver. Tens of times faster than any service Etisalat gives. However, Etisalat chose to block its distribution of this service in the UAE. All for the sake of making money with no consideration for people who are trying to do business or browse for various reasons, least of all to catch up with the world and be a true part of the global village and contributors to it. 

To get back to my request, it is pending ‘technical revision by some one in Etisalat’. Revise what? Why? I don’t really know. But then again, we are not in Europe or Asia or the USA.

Economies of the GCC

The party is over for the GCC. Oil prices kept tumbling despite the cut in production.  Today the price of oil went below US $ 40. This comes at a time when tourist numbers are also falling and states like Dubai who depend a lot on real estate are carrying the brunt of the credit crunch and the mortgage crisis that started in the USA. The Real Estate economy is slowing down. In a recent article by Arabian Business Magazine, they quote the IMF and the impact of oil prices on each of the economies of the 6 GCC countries. The worst affected by the slide in oil prices will be Oman. The least Qatar. The IMF measures the budget deficit each will have depending on a certain level for oil prices. For example, Saudi will record a budget deficit if oil prices stay around US $ 49, while the UAE will only be affected when the price hits US $ 23. Qatar is the most resilient being able to rely not only on oil but natural gas to back up the economy. In all instances, spending on public projects will slow down and some projects are going to either be delayed or scrapped. A lot has been said in recent years on strengthening the economies of the GCC beyond oil, but it seems that at the first sign of low oil prices, the economy suffers tremendously. It is clear that the economic cycle can only be a healthy one if you have healthy oil prices. To add to the problem, it is not only an oil price free fall. The world economy is suffering from an unprecedented crisis. So how do you deal with the upcoming downturn? 

In a recent press release, Dubai insists to carry on with its plans for DSF 2009 getting the backing of the usual companies and hoping to rejuvenate the economy. But where will the buyers come from? European tourists are drying up due to the strengthening of the US dollar vs. other currencies in Europe. The only possible inflow will be from the GCC at least for now. 

Compare what is happening in Dubai with what is happening in Beirut at this time. We’ve been told that hotels are witnessing peak reservations, flights are fully booked and Lebanese from all over are flocking in in addition to GCC citizens who either have second homes there or happily fill up the hotels and chalets. 

 January 2009 will be the litmus test of what actually the year will be like for the GCC. I guess people are enjoying the last few days of the year in preparation for things to come.

UAE National ID (2)

The deadline for the professional expatriates to apply for the UAE National ID was supposed to end by December 31, 2008. A day after extending the deadline to February 2009, word came from a committee that the FNC (Federal National Council) will look into the committee’s  suggestion to cancel the National ID for Expatriates and keep it only for UAE Nationals, replacing the ID for Expatriates with Labour Cards. The number of people who need to apply is staggering and runs in millions. The authority given the responsibility to do that is not able to cope with it. That  may be the reason for a suitable way out of the issue. The suggestion by the committee will be discussed in the next FNC  session. Of course we need to remember that everyone who is currently working legally in the UAE has a labour card.  I wonder what is next.