November 17, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 1, 1422

DUBAI, Nov 16: This little Gulf city-state with giant ambition is doggedly gambling on a strategy of huge expansion despite the global gloom in the aftermath of the US attacks and the war on nearby Afghanistan.

Fears of recession, terrorism and an uncertain future have all been brushed aside by the rulers of Dubai.

The Maktoum sheikhs had already committed billions of dollars to pursue the phenomenal growth which has transformed a sleepy pearl and trading outpost into a dynamic regional economic and tourist power with world-class infrastructure in just 25 years.

And this month has seen billions more added in a bid to maintain the boom as oil resources run out.

Some critics, notably in neighbouring emirates, warn that Dubai has over-reached itself and predict an implosion.

But others point to the record the Maktoums have of turning projects, even some dismissed as fanciful dreams, into reality.

From the world’s richest horse race to the world’s leading stables set in a desert country which even has to import hay to feed the horses and the grandiose Burj Al-Arab hotel, written off as a folly but today the global trademark of Dubai, the emirate likes to defy convention.

And Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the driving force behind the mega projects to position the emirate as a hi-tech, luxury leisure and trading hub, this week unveiled bold new targets for Dubai’s success over the decade:

— double gross domestic product (GDP)

— knowledge-based industry to contribute 20 per cent of GDP

— production and service sectors to contribute 70 per cent of all economic activities.

The selling of “Brand Dubai” is a slick operation, pulling together some of the world’s top marketing and sales experts and a small number of dedicated Emiratis gifted with what appears to be boundless imagination and optimism.

Dubai’s future is above linked to a series of gigantesque schemes mocked by some as the pyramids of sheikhs who have lost the run of themelves but which are emerging from the sand and sea.

— Palm Island, the world’s biggest man-made island, adding 120 kilometres (75 miles) of sandy beaches and dozens more five-star hotels south of Dubai city.

— Dubai Marina, a 10-billion city to house 100,000 people, is already well underway. The waterway stretches 4.5 kilometres (three miles) inland and covers 53 hectares (130 acres).

— Dubai Internet City, billed as the world’s first Internet free trade zone. The jury may still be out on its ultimate success, but it has pulled in so many firms that phase after phase of building continues. Media City sits next door.

— Dubai Festival City also launched this year, to develop a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) stretch of inland waterfront at a cost of $1.6 billion. Intended to spur Dubai’s annual shopping festival, which may seem an odd scheme, but officially rakes in more than one billion dollars in incremental sales in just one month.

— $2.5 billion airport expansion announced last week and starting next year to more than double annual capacity to 45 million passengers by 2015.

Also last week, the Dubai government-owned airline Emirates lit up the doom-laden aviation industry with orders for $15 billion worth of new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.

Justifying the big-spending, Sheikh Mohammed predicts six-fold growth in tourist arrivals to the emirate in the next decade. Dubai attracted 2.5 million tourists last year.

With a population of under one million the vast majority expatriates such massive investment might frighten many.

However Sheikh Mohammad says it is only the start.

What you see now in Dubai is less than 10 per cent of what our vision holds. More giant projects are in the pipeline, he said.—AFP