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| At the palace fountains looking at Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi |
The land of Coruscant, referring to the planet in "Star
Wars" that is all city, teaming with the latest and greatest, never
sleeping, and the place of mixing 100's of languages and cultures together for
business and pleasure is how we would describe the cities of Dubai and Abu
Dhabi. A common advertisement seen
around the city of Dubai, "In 1999, Dubai had 20 skyscrapers in the city
and today they have more then 900!" A resident of Dubai told us that in
their high time(2007), they had about one third of the world's construction
cranes. One gets the impression, that these cities are vying for the
World's capital center of the future.
The Post Gazette
recently wrote , "The rulers of the United Arab Emirates
wanted Dubai to become a city filled with the world's biggest and
best (oil money talks!), and, to a great extent, they've succeeded. The
population has doubled in the past 10 years to more than 2 million while the
city continues to set astonishing world records. The iconic Burj Al Arab,
the massive hotel shaped like a sail, was the world's tallest hotel when
completed in 1999. Now it's just the fourth tallest (two others in Dubai rise
even higher)."(1)
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| Dubai Fountains at the base of the Burj |
We live about two
hours Southwest, close to the kingdom of Saudi, in a desert that is
transforming, much like Abu Dhabi and Dubai were 30 years ago. Al Ruwais is
one of the world's largest oil refinery centers and manufacturers of oil
by-products, this oil money is how Dubai and Abu Dhabi have grown. Some say
there are plans and projections that Ruwais will be even bigger than Abu Dhabi
in the future. Since we have been here, we have watched multiple (8) apartment
structures go up around us this year that are 4-5 times larger then our
apartment and ground is being prepared for new construction. Last year, a new
power and water distillation plant was inaugurated in the area to supply power
to 300,000 homes and 100 million imperial gallons of water a day to the city
and region of Abu Dhabi (2).
Water is a life-giving and extremely necessary item out here.
We never go anywhere in the car without taking extra water with us.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi each use approximately
250 million gallons of water a day to water their parks and green ways
throughout their cities! That is not including the potable water used for
drinking. There are two main sources of
water in Abu Dhabi Emirate: Desalinated seawater and groundwater. "While
groundwater is used for agriculture in Al Ain and Liwa, drinking water is
provided almost entirely from desalinated seawater across the Emirate. In
2008, groundwater contributed 71% to total water demand for all purposes,
desalinated water 24% and treated wastewater 5%" (Wiki, 2009).
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| Palace Grounds in Abu Dhabi |
The country is
aware that it has a problem in the near future with not having enough water as
they are growing at an expediential rate. Reuters reports, "Abu
Dhabi, seat of the seven member UAE federation and the wealthiest of its
emirates, consumes 550 liters of water per person per day, Daoud said -- two
to three times the world average of 180-200 liters. Analysts say per capita's
water use in the UAE overall is roughly four times that of Europe. To ease
groundwater use, about 60 percent of consumption in the desert country, the
UAE has invested heavily in desalination, producing nine million cubic meters
of water daily at $18 million a day." (3)
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| A nice ride, a Ferrari |
Dubai and Abu Dhabi
are only one hour apart. If you don't care about the road cameras every five
kilometers and the speeding cameras every 15 kilometers giving you a speeding
ticket (driving over 140 km/hr, 86 mph) and are driving a Maserati, Ferrari,
Porsche Cayenne, Bentley, or Audi R8 (which are seen often) then the
two cities are even closer. We drive a Nissan Sunni that we rent per month for
about $420.00. It gets us around town and to the city when we need to go, at a putt putt speed.
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| Emirates Tower on Left, Dubai Metro on Right |
Each city has it's
own character and unique flavor. Dubai is the hot and flashy, building faster
and higher, creating islands, and inviting the world to come and see. Abu
Dhabi is the old money, conservative, holding to traditions, and building slow
and steady. Abu Dhabi is the Khalifa family and they own Dubai after 2009.
Back in the building boom and bust, Dubai went from 20 or so skyscrapers to
900 in a matter of 10 years or so. They were also caught in the bust and
Khalifa came in and bailed them out. In doing so the Burj Dubai (tallest
building in the world, seen on the movie "Mission Impossible 3") was
renamed the Burj Al Khalifa "Tower of Khalifa," after the Abu Dhabi
ruling family.
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| The Front of the Old Palace of Sheikh Zayed |
The first President
of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed is the most famous architect and visionary of joining
these seven emirates together to form the UAE. He and the Sheikh Rashid
of Dubai formed the beginnings of the UAE.
Sheikh Zayed would say, "We must not rely on oil alone as the main
source of our national income. We have to diversify the sources of our revenue
and construct economic projects that will ensure a free, stable and dignified
life for the people.” Since then there has been significant effort (lots
of money) put into agriculture and planting trees (mostly in the Abu Dhabi
region), building a solid education system (both public and private), opening
an Economic Free Zone, becoming a
tourist destination (mostly for shopping), becoming a financial center and a
travel (Emirates and Etihad ) hub for the world. These efforts have translated
into 147 world records out of the 380 that are in the Middle East today.
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| Saadyiyat Island Art Musuem |
For Abu Dhabi,
growing to catch up to the modern world has meant building: a new$2b Sheikh
Palace; dozens of malls, with millions of square feet; Ferrari World, the
world's largest themed park and fastest roller coaster; a Formula 1 race track
with the most modern looking hotels surrounding, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque,
larger and grander than the Taj Mahal Hall; on Saadyiyat Island a vacation
destination full on golf clubs and resorts with an art center as exquisite as
the Louvre and Guggenheim; the airline
company 'Etihad,' Abu Dhabi's national airline competing with the larger Dubai
'Emirates' airliner for control over the world market; Masdar city, a city
completely off-the-grid with solar, wind, and green technology to sustain the
entire city. Still in it's infancy, it is the worlds most environmental city
designed to be zero-carbon, zero-waste; Shams 1, a concentrated solar plant
developed by Abu Dhabi energy company, the largest solar power station in the
world; and the largest automated parking facility, the Emirates Financial
Towers with a 9 story automatic vehicle stacker, just to name a few.
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| The Burj Al Arab, Dubai |
- Nowlan, John and Sandra, April 5, 2014. "As it Grows, Oil-Rich Dubai creates ‘biggest and best’ - This Middle Eastern City is “Part Arab, Part Indian and Part Disneyland,” Retrieved from http://www.post-gazette.com/life/travel/2014/04/06/As-it-grows-oil-rich-Dubai-creates-biggest-and-best/stories/201404050147#ixzz31wx9Utic2
- Virtanen, Allan, October 10, 2013 "Sheikh Hamdan Inaugurates Power and Water Plant in Abu Dhabi." Retrieved from http://www.taqaglobal.com/media-centre/press-releases/2013/10-10-2013?sc_lang=en
- Solomon, Erika. June 21, 2010. "As Tiny UAE's Water Tab Grows, Resources Run Dry" Retrieved from <http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/21/us-emirates-water-feature-idUSTRE65K3MK20100621>
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| Strategizing at the Palace |
Building continues
in the country with: a skyscraper that has each individual floor rotating 360
degrees, 90 stories high; an underwater hotel called the Hydropolis; a nuclear
power plant in the Western Region; expanding the Etihad and Emirates airports;
and dreaming up other bigger and better feats to take on. One signification challenge for this small
country is the need for the Emirate people themselves to take up the roles of
leadership and greater responsibility. The current political and economic
climate is to encourage their people to go as far as possible in education and
to join the work force by paying them to fill the spot/seat/position. The pay can be 2-8 times the amount compared
to a peer of equal title and responsibility, who would most likely be an
Expat. As this keeps money and the perceived positions of power within the
country's people, it has yet to show as an efficient and effective way to
prepare the people to take on the challenges that lie ahead of them. Seeing this challenge, Skeikh Zayed said,
"It is my duty as the leader of the young people of this country to
encourage them to work and to exert themselves in order to raise their own
standards and to be of service to the country. The individual who is healthy
and of a sound mind and body but who does not work commits a crime against
himself and society.”
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