Visionary

There is a perception in certain parts that Dubai has no sustainable vision for the future. Aimad El Habti, senior facilities manager at Dubai Maritime City, puts the record straight.

When Dubai's real estate and tourism industries create negative international headlines, and the whispers on the street point to the city state's declining oil revenues as evidence of a bubble burst, it's easy to believe the harbingers of doom and get sucked into the smoke and mirrors analogy.

The lack of any foresight, forward planning and cursory nods towards sustainability in the built environment are common conversations among some expatriates. That though, is to be misinformed.

For sure oil production and revenue spiked in the mid ‘80s to account for around half of the emirate's GDP, but Dubai's wealth is anchored in trade, and it has been known as the ‘city of merchants' for centuries. Its strategic location, as a bridge between the oriental and the occidental, means it's one of the most important ports in the region.

US$68.8 billion worth of external trade

In 2007 Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) companies generated US$68.8 billion worth of external trade - 37 per cent of Dubai's total non-oil trade.

Today, around 6,400 companies are based there, including 154 Fortune Global 500 firms including oil giants UK/Dutch Shell group, BP and Total, alongside major car manufactures Tata and Daimler-Chrysler and communications and electronics blue-chips.

Jebel Ali Free Zone sprung from HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum's - then ruler of Dubai - decision to develop the area into a modern container port, air hub and city in 1976.

The world's largest man made harbour was completed in 1979, and ranked alongside the Great Wall of China and the Hoover Dam as the only three man-made objects that could be seen from space.

The Jebel Ali vision was preceded in 1971 by a feasibility study for the construction of a ship repair facility north of the city centre. Today Dry Docks World-Dubai is the third largest shipyard in the world and can boast a fourth successive Lloyd's List Middle East Shipyard of the Year Award, 2008.

Dubai Maritime City

The maritime vision continues through HH Sheikh Rashid's son and heir HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and the Dubai Maritime City complex.

This is a man-made peninsular 2.27 million square metres in size, situated north of the main city centre and creek area business district, between Port Rashid and Dubai Dry Docks.

A multi-use environment broadly split between commercial and industrial areas, the Industrial Precinct was born from the need to find a new home for Jadaf Dubai, the Arabian Gulf's oldest ship repair and industrial marine yard, says Aimad El Habti, senior facilities manager, property and operations department, Dubai Maritime City.

Environmental accreditation

With construction of dockside, lifting gear, substations, warehouse and worker accommodation well under way and completed in some sectors, talk inevitably turns to the environmental impact of a development this size.

"We have worked hard to ensure we comply with best practice criteria across the site," says Habti.

"Late last year Dubai Maritime City and Dubai Maritime City Authority were awarded PAS 99:2006, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications which recognise our focus towards quality, health and safety and environmental management practices."

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