Saturday, April 13, 2013

Dubai: back from The Brink

The City that once Conjured visions of Grandeur and Globalisation is trying its best to shake off The Misfortunes inherited from its recent debt crush and property bust. Syed Khurram gives a ground-zero walkthrough report

First impressions usually leave a deep imprint behind. The first glimpse of a city — its buildings, traffic, shops, roads and numerous others things that are part of the urban ecosystem — can convey a lot about its mood and character. So the sight of a stately limousine immediately upon entering Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport only reconfirmed my notions about the city and its multi-splendoured riches. In all these years of living in India, I have never come across a limousine at any of the airports I have passed through.

Driving on Dubai’s smooth roads feels like cruising on a pleasure yacht. The difference is that instead of navigating the vast expanse of sea, you speed past ribbons of smooth asphalt and imposing skycrapers that can make your neck go stiff and your jaw drop. While driving down to the hotel, I couldn’t resist asking the driver: “How are things here?” The driver, a stoutly-built Peshawri Pathan replied in a matter-of-fact way: “Sab theek hai, pahle se ab achcha hai.” Was he hinting at something? Could it be that he was referring to the Arab uprising in the neighbouring Gulf countries, the political hot potato that many Muslim sheikdoms in the region are currently wrestling with? Or was it just a general observation about Dubai’s economy that had lately run up against a great debt wall but is now limping back to recovery?

A short while later, I was back on Dubai’s streets, intent on savouring its urban charms and feast my eyes on its many ravishing landmarks. If ever a traveller is searching for an immersing shopping experience, Dubai is the place to be in. Beyond doubt, Dubai’s array of exotic shopping malls and super-rich wonder stores are a hog-heaven of consumerism. And though one comes across people from all nationalities looking out for the best they can buy, Indians in particular are a common sight. Some places, like the Meena Bazar in Bur Dubai, feel straight out of India and you could be forgiven for thinking that you are taking a stroll in an Indian market.

As you amble along the streets taking in the sights and sounds of the city and its breathtaking cityscape, you cannot but marvel at the ingenuity of the builders for giving shape to magnificent dreams cast in marble and stone. The sheer scale and grandiosity of the edifices around makes you wonder about the kinds of resources and skills that went into their creation. At times such in-your-face opulence leaves you wondering about whatever happened to Dubai’s property bubble bust, and if the talks about the emirate’s once bustling economy now being laid low are just overblown apprehensions.

Dubai’s high rises and exquisite malls are still the cynosure of tourists’ eyes but they probably don’t reflect truly the economic sores that were inflicted in the wake of the property crash. About two years ago, after years of breakneck real estate expansion for which it relied on international borrowing, Dubai found itself on the edge of a precipice as debts swelled to well over 100% of GDP. The $110 billion debt burden and the real estate crash have since exacted a heavy price in terms of stalled economic growth and investors’ flight. And although Dubai has been able to avert a debt disaster, it has not yet fully recovered from the crisis and continues to pay the wages of its past profligacy and reckless property expansion. “The situation has improved slightly and things are not like it was in mid-2008 or 2009. But still there is no economic stability in the real estate and hotel industry” says V.B. Shetty, Group General Manager, Ramee Group of Hotels & Resorts.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
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