* Dubai re-exports goods worth billions of dollars to Iran

The central bank of the United Arab Emirates has told financial institutions in the Gulf Arab country to freeze 41 Iran-linked accounts, in a move based on new U.N. sanctions on Tehran, a UAE daily reported on Monday.

It came a week after another Emirati newspaper said the seven-member UAE federation was “tightening the noose” on companies the United Nations Security Council suspects act as fronts for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.

The Islamic state and the UAE have close economic and historic relations. Tens of thousands of Iranians live and work in business- and trade-hub Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE, many involved in the multi-billion-dollar re-export trade to Iran.

With Iran facing growing Western pressure, Iran’s ties with Dubai have drawn scrutiny from the United States, which has been spearheading a drive to isolate Tehran over nuclear work the West fears is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge. [Read More]

When completed, DWC will be the largest airport in the world with five runways, four terminal buildings and capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.

The first phase of the airport will feature one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of cargo and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year.

“Phase I is the first step in a long infrastructure development project that over time will see our new airport transformed into the world’s largest global gateway and a multi-modal logistics hub that plays an increasingly integral role in the ongoing economic and social development of Dubai.” said Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and chairman of Dubai Airports.

“It is a proud day for Dubai and an auspicious occasion for the future of global aviation,” he added. [Read More]

The largest builder in the United Arab Emirates by market value has bid for enough work to achieve 7.4 billion dirhams ($2.02 billion) worth of orders in 2010, Ziad Makhzoumi told Dubai One TV in an interview on Saturday.

“We’re still hopeful that we will get that soon, as they have announced that it will be some time in June,” he said, referring to the outstanding cash owed by Nakheel, a unit of state-owned conglomerate Dubai World which agreed with its core creditor banks on a proposal to restructure $23.5 billion in debt.

“Soon after that, be it a month, two or three — within a reasonable period of time I believe we will all be issued with the bonds,” he added.

As part of the proposals, Nakheel’s trade creditors have been offered full repayment, with 40 percent in cash and 60 percent in the form of an Islamic bond, or sukuk, which has a 10 percent annual return.

Makhzoumi said Arabtec had already been approached by banks and institutions interested in buying the bond.

Arabtec received a first token payment from Nakheel of 500,000 dirhams ($136,200), local daily Emirates Business reported last week.

In April, the firm’s chief executive said Nakheel’s cash would be circulated to pay Arabtec’s suppliers and subcontractors in the UAE, adding it would not need additional cash for its projects outside the Gulf state.

EXPANSION
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Civic boosters envision Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International, set to open Sunday, as one day growing into a mammoth transit hub of five parallel runways that could trump Atlanta’s airport for the No. 1 spot. Where camels now graze, they see up to four terminals handling more travelers than the world’s No. 2 and 3 airports — Chicago’s O’Hare and London’s Heathrow — combined.

Big ambitions die hard here. Yet the airport and surrounding development — with a projected price tag of more than $32 billion — are a gamble for a city-state whose soaring aspirations have been eclipsed by its struggle to pay for them.

Dubai has proved skeptics wrong before, growing its current airport from a lowly wind-swept airstrip into one of the world’s busiest international transit hubs in a few decades. What is unclear now is whether the sheikdom — one of seven city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates — can attract enough business to justify its appetite for a project of this scale.

“The name of this game is to be able to interconnect traffic from a wide range of regions and commercial centers,” said Mike Boyd, an aviation industry consultant. “It’s an open question if Dubai is going to be competitive” with other emerging global air hubs, he said.

The new airport, which will grow in stages over the next two decades, was planned well before the economic meltdown revealed serious problems with Dubai’s finances. The emirate is still wrestling with more than $100 billion of debt. It has yet to finalize a deal to repay lenders stung by credit problems at its government-owned Dubai World conglomerate. Concerns are also mounting at other state-linked companies.

Much of the debt piled up because of megaprojects that, like the new airport, promised to be the biggest or the best — one-of-a-kind feats designed to make Dubai stand out on the global stage and bring in cash.

But as the credit crunch deepened, Dubai’s vast network of state-owned companies suddenly found themselves scrambling to pay the bills, spooking global markets with their debt load and inability to pay.

That hasn’t derailed the airport plans, even if Dubai’s debts remain a key concern for bankers and bondholders.

Officials say it remains a vital piece of infrastructure that will ensure the emirate retains its crown as the region’s transportation and logistics hub. Dubai is already home to the region’s busiest sea port and airport.

“There’s no suggestion of scaling back,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said in an interview this week. “The world can now sit back and see that Dubai is really taking the lead in this sector.”

Although Dubai’s existing airport is among the world’s busiest, it operates below capacity. Griffiths argues the new airport is nonetheless needed because the existing one is being bogged down at peak times. That’s why construction cranes are hard at work building an additional concourse at the existing airport, Dubai International, even as increased attention falls on the new Al Maktoum International, named for Dubai’s ruling family.

“The strategy is to run ahead of time … rather than wait until things become more constrained,” said John Strickland, a consultant who follows the aviation industry. “It’s just good fortune they’re able to do this. Others will be very envious.”

Ultimately, the new airport is designed to handle up to 160 million passengers and 12 million tons of freight each year. Assuming it can drum up enough business, it would eclipse Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest passenger airport.

Atlanta handled just over 90 million passengers in 2008, according to the most recent annual statistics from the Airports Council International trade group. That’s well over double the 37.4 million passengers that passed through the tax-free shopping corridors of Dubai International that year.

Dubai International is growing fast, however. Preliminary figures show passenger numbers shot up 9 percent to 40.9 million in 2009.

Driving much of the traffic is rapidly growing Emirates airline, a state-owned carrier that has emerged profitable and relatively unscathed from Dubai’s debt crisis.

It shows no signs of slowing down. Just weeks after Emirates unveiled a whopping $11.5 billion order for 32 more Airbus A380 planes, on top of the 58 it had previously requested, it confirmed plans to order more planes at next month’s Farnborough International Airshow. Its recruiters are busy searching for 3,000 new cabin crew and more than 700 pilots as part of the company’s growth plan.

The idea is to eventually shift Emirates’ operations, and possibly the rest of Dubai International’s, to the new airport sometime next decade. For now, Emirates is staying mostly put at its existing base — a strategy analysts say makes sense because it is more efficient.

That leaves Al Maktoum International looking elsewhere for customers. Griffiths, the former boss of London’s Gatwick airport, acknowledges it will be years before his new airport really takes off.

Only one runway has been built — part of the $820 million investment Dubai’s airport company estimates has been made in the new airport so far. The total project, including vast business and residential complexes nearby, is expected to cost over $32 billion.

Initially, it will only handle cargo flights, like the Emirates airline Boeing 777 freighter that landed on a test flight last Sunday. The first passenger terminal isn’t slated to open until March.

Ten airlines have signed up to operate at the new airport, Griffiths said. But days before the debut, he was unwilling to name one that would be flying there when the doors open Sunday.

“We’re not expecting it to be a massive runaway success,” he said. “To create such a large facility is going to take some time. … It’s by nature a fairly long-term ambition.”

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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The plan is to turn the newspaper, owned by Arab Media Group, part of the ruler’s sprawling business enterprise, into an online publication by mid July, media reported.

Dubai-based new website Kipp Report said managers at the paper have told staff they do not know what is happening.

Zawya Dow Jones, citing a statement from Dubai Media Office, reported that the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum on Wednesday ordered the conversion of the local English-language paper.[Read More]

Abdul Baset al Janahi, the chief executive of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development, said new businesses run by expatriates and UAE nationals would receive more government support when the laws were introduced this year.

“You’re talking about policy and the legislation cycle takes time, but there are quick things that we are doing,” Mr al Janahi said.

“Our positioning is as an agency that is responsible for the small-medium enterprises and the entrepreneurship in the emirate of Dubai. For us it’s about the whole sector.” [Read More]

Passionate about art and culture, she is also a board member of the Dubai Community Theatre and Art Centre (Ductac).

Her responsibilities have taught her punctuality and discipline in life. She follows a tight schedule from the time she gets up at 7am. She makes it a point to watch the business and political news on BBC World everyday while having breakfast before heading for work at the Al Gurg Group tower in Deira. The Dubai Quality Group recently awarded her the Emirates Women’s Award in second place in the Business category.

Muna spoke to Gulf News about her views on business and other matters.[Read More]

In a seminar hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the post-Dubai crisis situation in the Middle East, Kim said that “it is true that there have been skeptical views about the region’s economy since its vulnerability has been exposed recently,” but “it is a big market for Korea with growth potential.”

Oil revenues in the Middle East over the next 10 years is predicted to be 5.3 times the region’s current GDP, reaching $10 trillion, according to Kim.
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Barwa Real Estate, one of the largest property investment and development companies in gas-rich Qatar, yesterday said it had acquired the Park House, a mixed-used planned project in London’s West End, for £250 million.

Barwa has taken over the project from Land Securities, the UK’s largest developer, although the British company will still supervise construction of the development on Oxford Street. It is expected to be completed in 2012. The acquisition is the first major wholly owned investment made by Barwa in the UK and the company said the deal demonstrated its commitment to Europe as part of Barwa’s growth strategy.

It said it signalled the company’s particular interest in strengthening its portfolio in London.

“Barwa has exhausted its local market in Qatar and they had to look outside for growth. It’s a strategic investment for the company,” said Majed Azzam, a properties analyst at Al Futtaim HC Securities in Dubai. Barwa this year acquired the entire share capital of Qatar Real Estate Investment Company in a share swap deal valued at US$862m. Barwa is 45 per cent owned by Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment, a property investment arm of the country’s sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.
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