Dubai: Vision Accomplished

by Najam Gilani

April 22, 2007

Earlier it used to be Shanghai but now it's Dubai which is known as the crane capital of the world, because of its construction spree. Along with all those BM's, Merc's and Ferraries camel riders are driving the economy quite efficiently. You will feel tempted to say this after seeing all those sky scrappers glitzy buildings which are made to resemble in New York, Manhattan, Shanghai and Singapore. To many visitors (read most) a visit to this illuminating city gives the impression that this city has truly arrived at the international level. Cluster of sand has been turned into land of opportunity and they all attribute its phenomenon rise to its long time crown prince and its present King, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoom, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai

No doubt, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoom has transformed the landscape of Dubai out of sheer vision, dedication and determination. Dubai will serve as an example to all those (small) states who crib and crab about lack of resources and in the process fail to develop their economy. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed has proved consistently that lack of resources cannot be an impediment for development; it is the grandness of the vision and sincerity of the approach which is important not the billion dollar cash rich state coffers.

Culturally Dubai is cosmopolitan to the core and approach wise it’s endeavoring to be liberal up to the highest possible limit. Amidst the orthodox and religiously polarized Arab world its religious diversity is worth the appreciation. Being a Muslim city mosques still constitute the highest visible religious place as far as numbers are concerned, but keeping in mind the religious needs of its expatriate’s community, which has contributed a great deal in its economic prosperity, the kingdom of Dubai has shown the sensitivity and has been generous enough to allow the existence of Temple and Cathedral as well.

Appearance of its inhabitants across the nationality is full of glamour and flamboyance especially amongst the feminine gender. It can be seen in it’s fully glory at the temple of capitalism.” the great shopping malls". In comparison to the style and vogue of many Europeans, local Emitari women are not far behind. If westerners flash their flesh and figure with ease and comfort in all those spaghetti, body fit short tops, low waist jean and Capri's; then local Emitari women can be seen displaying fashionable burqa's (veils/abaya). They (veil) come in all the possible fashionable designs with a wide ranging price tag and in different brands. Many of them wear it with a touch of style, sophistication, elegance and attitude. For the younger lot veil wearing women it got to be hip hugging, body tight, down front slit from waist or thigh displaying their denim jean with heels and trainers.

Some Muslims aghast at this vogue display due its liberal approach curse the city that it has gone astray: while some other who admire liberty say that it should become a role model for other Muslim countries; the statement depends on the side of the fence they are standing; for now the opinion between conservatives and liberals are well in control.

Dubai has been labeled as a free market economy and of course it is. Free in the sense that anything can entered into its port without paying any duties (if at all it is then very nominal), and because of this it has become a trading hub. Traders source the product from other countries and then resell it to local and other international market.

Work culture wise Dubai is still in the stage of infancy (in comparison with west), its still is a very immature market and this precisely is the reason that it's devoid of any professionalism. Though there are some big business houses but basically it’s trading which they do, so their mentality is mostly of petty traders- Of course there are some multinational companies but exception has never been a rule. Most of the ARBAB (boss/managers) of the companies carries the impression that all their employees are his personal servants. They have developed this mentality because on behalf of their employees they purchase the employment visa from the government and when he do so he thinks that he has purchase the employee. Companies also retain the employee's passport, they cannot change the job as and when they please, and by submitting their passport they surrender themselves to exploitation depending upon company and nature of employer. There is also the procedure of one year and six month ban imposed by the company if an employee decides to quit his job before the contract period. If a ban is imposed then that employee cannot work in the country till the period of ban is not over (after paying certain amount to the government that ban can get removed) All this can happen to educated class labor (employee) the exploitation of construction labors are well beyond imagination. Had Karl Marx been alive today to witness those gory scenes of laborers, he would have cried with pain, anguish and in wonder that even after so many years not much has changed for his proletariat class.

Going by the figures of revenue collection- at economic front Dubai is doing exceptionally great. For the fiscal year 2005-06 revenue collection was in the surplus of bn5.5dhs.This is an astounding figure because it literally have no natural resources (oil only contributes 3% to the revenue) and no manufacturing base with the exception of DUBAL (Dubai Aluminum) There is also Dubai Port World which looks after the management of ports (it recently ran into controversy over its bid to acquire US ports) but these are in no way carrying the responsibility of revenue generation on their shoulders.

Contribution of oil in revenue generation is just 3% and there is hardly any direct taxation worth the name.

The money minting machine for Dubai government is its department called “Dubai municipality “every day it contributes million to the state coffers through the medium of penalty collection for over speeding, percentage charges on water and electricity bills, through paid parking meters and by annual rent on every commercial display done in the form of billboards and hoardings. Department of transport and department of communication is also a money spinner for the government. Metre taxis which are manage and maintained by Dubai government is a painfully expensive indulgence for middle class inhabitants (of course the dollar and pound earning tourist doesn’t mind it because of exchange rate) though there are some private metre taxi companies as well run by Indians and Pakistanis, but metre is maintained by government only and they pay royalty to the transport department. Same is the case with international telephone calls. The fiefdom here is maintained by ETISALAT which again is a government organization. Since Dubai is an expat (riate) run economy most of the people are compelled to phone their family back home in Asia/Africa and Europe, and in doing so they fill the government coffers with cash.

Economic success of Dubai lies not only in the above monopolies sector but also in its policy of attracting foreign direct investment and through tourism. Tourism has seen unprecedented rise and it's attracting tourists from all over the globe.

The phenomenal rise of Dubai can be attributed to its least bureaucratic and most investor friendly policies. Anybody with loads of cash and looking for a destination to invest will be first welcomed by Dubai government with open arms.

The oil rich economy of Middle East has seen a manifold increases in its revenue due to increase in oil prices, but due to its disenchantment with western government they have now redirected most of their investment to all these growing economies-mostly in property development and shopping malls, and in this development spree Dubai is taking the lead.

The social and economic development is the need of the hour and Dubai is moving in the right direction, but for sustainable growth it is extremely imperative that it gives due importance to the development of social sectors as well, like, health care, education and strict labour laws. It should also look into the issue of high inflation which kills the purchasing spirit of middle class consumers.

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