In This Article
Subscribe to International Updates
Dubai’s Construction Projects Reach for the Sky
December 06, 2007 11:55 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
As part of its continuing effort to position itself as a luxury brand, the emirate of Dubai is spending billions of dollars on remarkable construction projects that have divided architectural critics.
30-Second Summary
The Burj Dubai, scheduled for completion next year, has already beat out Toronto’s CN Tower to become the world’s tallest manmade structure, a distinction that the Canadian attraction held for 31 years.
The behemoth that is the Burj Dubai is just one of a bevy of headline-grabbing construction projects backed by partially state-run development firms in the emirate.
Emaar, the firm behind the Burj Dubai, and Nakheel—the builder of the Palm Islands, an artificial archipelago off the Dubai coast—have drawn international attention and garnered alliances with worldwide brands such as Armani and Trump. Armani plans to build its first hotel in the Burj Dubai, and the Palm Trump International Tower and Hotel is to be built at the base of the Palm Jumeirah, one of the Palm Islands.
As Dubai rides a seemingly endless glut of petrodollars, the emirate continues to pour cash into real estate and construction, hoping to retain talented locals and to attract more capital from East Asian and Western markets.
On the down side, the projects have drawn some critical attention with regard to employment practices. The International Herald Tribune recently ran a story about the harsh conditions endured by the day laborers who do most of the construction work in Dubai.
This year, the laborers, most of whom herald from South Asia, went on strike, protesting unpaid wages, filthy accommodation and being forced to work in extreme weather.
Thousands of construction employees refused to work from March through November, putting a dent in the progress of projects.
As 33-year-old Indian pipe fitter Jonson Joy said, “Man is only a machine here.”
The behemoth that is the Burj Dubai is just one of a bevy of headline-grabbing construction projects backed by partially state-run development firms in the emirate.
Emaar, the firm behind the Burj Dubai, and Nakheel—the builder of the Palm Islands, an artificial archipelago off the Dubai coast—have drawn international attention and garnered alliances with worldwide brands such as Armani and Trump. Armani plans to build its first hotel in the Burj Dubai, and the Palm Trump International Tower and Hotel is to be built at the base of the Palm Jumeirah, one of the Palm Islands.
As Dubai rides a seemingly endless glut of petrodollars, the emirate continues to pour cash into real estate and construction, hoping to retain talented locals and to attract more capital from East Asian and Western markets.
On the down side, the projects have drawn some critical attention with regard to employment practices. The International Herald Tribune recently ran a story about the harsh conditions endured by the day laborers who do most of the construction work in Dubai.
This year, the laborers, most of whom herald from South Asia, went on strike, protesting unpaid wages, filthy accommodation and being forced to work in extreme weather.
Thousands of construction employees refused to work from March through November, putting a dent in the progress of projects.
As 33-year-old Indian pipe fitter Jonson Joy said, “Man is only a machine here.”
Headline Links: Dubai establishes an iconic skyline
In September, the Burj Dubai, still under construction, beat Toronto’s CN Tower for the title of “world’s tallest manmade structure.” Bloomberg columnist William Pesek writes, “The thing about record-breaking skyscrapers is that they can say as much about hubris as wealth, ambition and technology. Is Dubai a development miracle? Or is it the center of an Arabian asset bubble tied to surging oil prices?” Pesek argues that it is the latter, as steady demand from China and India is keeping oil prices lofty.
Source: Bloomberg
Emaar Properties, the partially government-owned Dubai real estate developer, announced on Nov. 22 that it was “likely” to list its shares for public trading on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) and London’s stock exchange, the FTSE. "We have always considered the possibility of a dual listing on the DIFX, London, New York, or any other international stock exchange," Emaar said in a statement on the DIFX’s Web site. The Dubai shares were listed on Nov. 26. The London listing is expected to happen sometime within the next 12 months. Emaar is already listed on the Dubai Financial Market, a exchange solely for United Arab Emirates-based shares.
Source: Arabian Business
Background: Emaar and Nakheel
Emaar Properties is a public joint stock company, a type of business partnership in which the capital is formed by the individual contributions of a group of shareholders. It has been in existence since 1997 and is listed on the Dubai Financial Market, which trades in local shares, as well as the Dubai International Financial Exchange. Emaar’s most impressive real estate holding is arguably the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest manmade structure. It has a host of other real estate projects in the emirate, including the Dubai Marina. Its holdings abroad include developments in Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Pakistan, India and Tunisia. Emaar is also partnering with luxury brand Armani in a chain of 10 hotels, one of which will be located in the Burj Dubai.
Source: The Emirates Network
Al Nakheel Properties, also known as Nakheel Corporation, is Dubai’s highest-revenue earning company involved in freehold real estate. The company’s best-known project is the Palm Islands, a series of artificial archipelago on the emirate’s Gulf coast. It is also building a slew of elite housing developments around Dubai, as well as the Palm Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is to be built at the base of the Palm Jumeirah, one of the artificial islands. “Nakheel” means “palm” in Arabic.
Source: The Emirates Network
The Palm Islands are artificial peninsulas constructed by dredging sand from the seabed of the Gulf. The outer edge of each peninsula is a breakwater consisting of rock. The Palm Jumeirah, the largest of the three, is the largest manmade island in the world and is visible from space. Its outer wave-breaking ring consists of over 7 million tons of rock. Each stone was placed individually and assigned its own GPS coordinate. AME Info, a financial news service covering the Middle East, has an update on the construction status of the Palm Islands project.
Source: AME Info
Historical Context: Buying into the U.S. economy
Adam Davidson of NPR writes that some on Wall Street and in Washington fear that an influx of cash from national sovereign funds, such as those of the UAE, could send the U.S. into a recession. Sovereign funds could buy large holdings of U.S.-denominated debt-carrying instruments, such as dollar reserves or federal bonds, then sell them off in one fell swoop on a given day, sending the U.S. dollar’s value reeling. Preston Keat of political risk research firm Eurasia Group argues that this would be detrimental to the UAE’s interests, however. “It's a context of mutual dependence. Blowing somebody else up does you at least as much financial damage.”
Source: NPR
Opinion & Analysis: Workers go on strike
Laborers working on the Burj Dubai ended an eight-month-long strike that disrupted the construction of the monumental structure. Strikes and trade unions are illegal in the emirate, but the approximately 700,000 largely South Asian expatriate workers took to the streets to protest unpaid wages and working conditions that had them laboring in the middle of the day in 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: The BBC
In October, some 4,000 workers were arrested after 4 days of strikes during which 14 buses were smashed. A strike by 18,000 laborers working for Dubai-based Arabtec Holding ended on Nov. 10. In a report in the International Herald Tribune, reporter Sean Cronin tells the story of Jonson Joy, a pipe fitter working in Dubai earning a monthly salary of $245, half of which he sends home to his family in India. Joy, who works 13 hours a day for subcontractors building the Burj Dubai and on Nakheel’s Palm Island, returns to a dormitory camp housing 50,000 workers located next to an overflowing sewage tank. Joy said to Cronin, “Man is only a machine here.”
Source: International Herald Tribune
Reference Material: Dubai mega-projects
Dubai newspaper Gulf News has a clickable interactive map of the major projects making up the multibillion dollar wave of construction in the emirate.
Source: Gulf News
Related Topics: The myriad investments of the UAE
For information on the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s purchase of a 4.9 percent stake in Citigroup, see the following Beyond the Headlines stories:
© 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
