The first time I visited was in 1996 and it was a dusty trading outpost. The road between Dubai and Jebel Ali was just a barren stretch of sand. There was some building going on but no too much.
Last year I went there three times and was floored. The amount and scale of construction was awe inspiring and the architecture was beautiful. Do you remember what the skyline of San Diego looked like three years ago when viewed from Petco Park with cranes everywhere? Imagine that same scene stretching over about 15 miles unbroken but with taller, more modern buildings being built. Simply everything was on a grand scale. City planners were projecting that over the next few years that the population would grow about 9-fold and be centered on trade and finance. Some of my friends and I looked at what was going on and what they planned and we all thought the same thing – “Unsustainable.”
They did a lot of things right. They dumped a ton of money into infrastructure: the port facility at Jebel Ali is world class, the new rail system is state of the art, power(and yes, water) was well planned out. They are the most western of places I have seen in the middle east. You walk through a mall there and you will see some women dressed in traditional dress and covered head to tow and you will also see Brit ex-pats in tube tops and skin tight jeans. They serve alcohol – do not underestimate the importance of that piece when you are trying to attract westerners.
They did a lot of things wrong. Despite the western feel of the place it is certainly not as free as the veneer would suggest. One Brit Ex-pat friend of mine had recently moved there after many years of living and working in East Africa. He told me in a rather wry tone, “Living in a police state isn’t all that bad, as long as you are on the same side as the police.” The simple truth is that the rule of law is inequitably applied and is capriciously administered. The TCN’s(Third Country Nationals) are treated like dirt and basically have few rights. Hospitality workers make almost nothing.
I was surprised to how, even at “reputable” shops, people were willing to try to take advantage of you. While looking for a particular type of rug(a Mohammed Jamshidi Qom rug) I had a couple different shops try to pass off imitations as the real thing(with real thing prices). When I pointed out the problems it was always, “Oh yes, yes my friend. I thought you wanted one that “looked” like a Jamshidi. Please, let me show you the real ones.” or some other similar crap…
It will be interesting to see how things shake out there. I think I liked it better as a sleepy backwater.
And not to be a picker of nits, but the currency in the UAE is the Dirham(AED) not the Dinar. They used to use the Dinar but they moved to the Dirham some time ago(1973 ?).
