The metro is a good addition to the transportation mix, but it is not going to touch our business in any way. A few years ago, I was asked a question about Salik and I said the same thing then – it will have zero effect.”
The Dubai Metro’s 52km red line, running from Jebel Ali to Rashidiya, will open this summer while the green line is scheduled to come on line in Mar. 2010. The 23.9 km track will start in Al Qusais, running around Dubai creek, and stretch to Jedaff
Eltibi made the comments while discussing how Dollar Thrifty’s Middle East operation is coping with the economic downturn. He admitted annual profit growth was expected to drop from 30 percent in recent years to eight percent in 2009.
“We will achieve one third of the profit we were doing – but we’re still profitable,” he said.
The financial crisis has led to demand dropping between 6-12 percent in this region, according to Eltibi. He attributed this to a decline in tourists visiting the region.
However, Eltibi said he did not expect any redundancies across the Middle East, which has a fleet of more than 20,000 cars and accounts for 7.2 percent of Dollar Thrifty’s global business.
To stimulate demand in this region, Dollar Thrifty management is planning to introduce pre-paid services through its website. The option enables a car rental customer to pay his or her bill before receiving the car. No date was given for when the service might be available. refered by

Al-Futtaim Real Estate offers comprehensive services from selection of site and feasibility studies to construction and property management. The range of properties administered and leased in the UAE includes warehouses, showrooms, workshops, offices, villas and apartment buildings. Al Futtaim's warehousing complex at Rashidia in Dubai, measuring over one million square feet, is by far the largest owned by any company in the Gulf. This is used as a central warehouse for the group, stocking vast quantities of electronic goods, automobiles, commercial vehicles, heavy equipment and inventories of spare parts. The company also has some 200,000 square feet of showroom space and 600,000 square feet of workshops in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain. Among the largest of these are the showrooms of Al Futtaim Panatech and Al Futtaim Motors in Dubai.
Residential properties in Dubai owned by Al Futtaim Real Estate, include some 900 apartments and villas like Al Garhoud, Safa village and Al Hamriya Villa Compounds, Dar Al Muteena, Dar Al Buteen, Dar Al Buteen II, Dar Al Khabeesi, and Dar Al Muragabat. These properties are characterised by a high standard of accommodation and leisure facilities. In keeping with the economic growth of the United Arab Emirates and Dubai, it is envisaged that Al-Futtaim Real Estate will concentrate its efforts and resources towards the development of prestigious real estate complexes to supplement the growing demand for commercial and residential properties.
The great getaway. Something we all dream about. Perhaps a home by "The Lakes" or a sun-filled town house nestled in lush green "Meadows". The epitome of a liberated relaxed yet terribly elegant milieu - a cherished retreat. What would you say if we handed you your dream, in the shape of an extravagant escape, a place you can call 'home'?
At Al-Maskan Real Estate, "live that dream" is more than just a slogan. With a portfolio that pulsates with sleek apartments and penthouses, beautiful homes and luxury retreats, Al-Maskan remains committed to realising the dreams of every customer.
Dubai's ever changing skyline is a testament to the unremitting development that has occurred over the last few decades and with it an influx of varied nationalities into the country. The rapid changes that will occur in the recent future will surpass those that have already been witnessed. The property market is incessantly affected by the boom; what gives Al-Maskan Real Estate its remarkable distinction is its bona fide expertise that constantly re-invents itself and its knowledgeable approach to suit the needs of the local community as well as a wide international clientele. In keeping with this scheme, the firm continues to tender some of the region's most beautiful homes in both avant-garde and traditional styles. The choices range from apartments over looking the "Dubai Marina" to executive offices at the "Burj Dubai" and from a waterfront family homes at "The Palm" to an investment properties on any of the 300 islands in "The World".

The road show will go ahead next week, and aims to bring together the management of firms listed on the Dubai Financial Market and NASDAQ Dubai with large US investors deploying capital overseas in an effort to rejuvenate business in Dubai."These conferences allow direct contact between senior management and the professional investment community," said Oliver Schutzmann, the head of investor relations at Shuaa Capital, one of the firms listed in Dubai that will take part in the presentations."This is an excellent opportunity for institutional investors to get introduced to companies they perhaps haven't met yet," he added.Renewed confidenceThe meetings are taking place in the light of renewed confidence in the Middle East region among foreign investors.Business in Dubai suffered significantly, with its stock market enduring one of the steepest slumps of the crisis, but recovery up to now has been strong with the Dubai Financial Market index rising by more than 60 percent since reaching a low of 1,433 points in February.The Dubai government currently has debts of around US$85 billion, and they are about to embark on a tapping mission across Asia and Europe to gain access to a thawing global capital markets. It hopes to borrow as much as US$6.5 billion.Now is the time to invest in DubaiAli Khan, a director at Arqaam Capital in Dubai, said this was an opportune time for companies based in Dubai to sell themselves to international investors, given the market dynamics."I think it is definitely a good time precisely because of the large moves we've seen" in stock prices, he said. "We've gone from a process of fire-sale valuations to more stability and normalisation."These days, foreign investors are likely to be paying more attention to companies' plans to enlarge their profits, Mr Khan added.The 15 firms taking part in the presentations include Emaar Properties, construction firm Arabtec Holdings, Air Arabia, DP World, Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD.

I was on vacation for a week and all of a sudden amidst the desert of Jaisalmer saw Indian markets crashing like anything. Called up one of my colleagues in Kolkata and he told that the sell of today is because some kind of a debt default by a company from Dubai (another desert place).
The first thing that came to my mind, is since when the global markets have started following DUBAI..!! But when I came back and read some news articles and reports by eminent houses like CLSA and Citi group, the sell off really made sense.. at least for India, if not for the rest of the world. This is mainly because:
Indian are ~ 40% of UAE’s populations; forming ~10-12% of India’s inward remittances. Thus a debacle in UAE could really hurt remittances into India and also increase unemployment
UAE forms ~8% of India’s non-oil exports
DP World operates five container terminals in India, accounting for 40% of India’s container traffic
A lot of JVs between Indian and Dubai based firms are operational in Indian Real estate domain (Emmar- MGF, DLF-Limitless, etc) and this could severely impact real estate prices in India
Good for India, Indian banks does not have any materialistic loan exposure to companies in Dubai
What exactly happened is that Dubai’s failure re-awakened a number of dormant fears in investors that the worst probably is over,but the things are definitely back to 100% normal. Dubai which was potraying itself as a gateway to the financial world has being held in a sandstrom it has created on its own.
Thus in the coming few days, it would be good to remain cautious on the global capital market recovery and the best strategy is to go short with a stop loss of around 5200 on Nifty Index on a closing basis. Because the way media has waved off this Dubai Debacle in a day or two is actually a cause of concern since the crisis looks bigger than it is being portrayed as.

(DUBAI, UAE) -- Moody's Investors Service said yesterday it is looking at six major Dubai government companies to decide if their ratings should be downgraded. The companies include five of Dubai's biggest financial powerhouses and its largest developer, Emaar Properties.
The Dubai Mall, Burj Dubai Promenade
Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group, DP World, DIFC Investments, Dubai Electricity and Water, Jebel Ali Free Zone, and Emaar Properties are being reviewed "motivated by the deterioration in Dubai's macro-economic outlook."  According to the rating agency, "Dubai's open economy has been hit harder by the global economic and financial crisis than most others in the region."
No one from the six companies was willing or available to comment. Last week Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar said that he expected property prices in Dubai to fall an average of 20 percent . He also said that the company was not looking to buy back shares but might delay some projects if market conditions continued to deteriorate.
The Dubai Mall Grand Entrance
In remarks published Saturday, the head of Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) said that the number of developers registered in the emirate has declined by 40 percent to 500. As recently as November, there were 800. Marwan bin Ghalita, RERA's CEO, added, "some of the companies were registered but have now decided they don't want to develop because of liquidity, which is a good thing."
Moody's said that if the six firms' ratings were downgraded, they would go down two notches at most which would leave them still with investment grade ratings. The government of Dubai has said in the past that it can support its big companies and claimed last year to have more than $90 billion in assets. However, the liquidity of the assets "cannot be taken for granted," Moody's noted, and it has asked for information about them as part of the ratings review.

Is Dubai the city of the future, or the condensation of the worst developments of the past decennia; is it a fantasy, or is it all just fake; is it a dream, or actually a nightmare, is it a utopia, or just an investment enterprise…?
Last Tuesday, 13th of March 2007, George Katodrytis and Kees Christiaanse duelled with each other in the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam about the question whether the developments in the city of Dubai are positive or negative. Like a stroboscope they portrayed the city alternately as illuminated and dark, white and black.
Architecture critic Roemer van Toorn was our host that evening. The Dialogue lecture series this semester is part of the Architecture Biennale (theme: ‘Power’) that is organized by the Berlage Institute this summer in Rotterdam. Unfortunately the third speaker of the Dialogue, Marc Angélil, couldn’t make it by airplane from Zurich because of a fog obscuring the runway.
Van Toorn started off by quoting critical comments by Mike Davis on Dubai, on the internet, and celebrating comments by Rem Koolhaas/AMO, that he made on the last Venice Biennale. “Dubai becomes a single experience, instead of multiple experiences”, Koolhaas notes. Van Toorn also showed a short film about Dubai Waterfront, which hilariously features Winy Maas of MVRDV designing beaches.

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