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After Tunisia, Egypt is turning out of its slumber. There’s rush of adrenaline, emotions are high, so are the stakes. Egyptians are at crossroads, and may turn to a path that can make or break their collective future.
Dubai Expat Blog is covering the protests in Egypt that are, actually, a history in making.
Join here with your comments and updates.
Jumeirah Beach Residence (also known as JBR) is a 1.7 kilometre long, 2 million square metre gross floor area waterfront community located in Dubai Marina. It is the largest single phase residential development in the world and contains 40 towers (36 are residential and 4 are hotels) . JBR’s capacity is about 10.000 people living in its apartments and hotel rooms.
The developer, Dubai Properties (a subsidiary of Dubai Holding), launched JBR in August 2002. This 6 billion dirham project was completed in 2007.
Living in JBR is any expat’s dream, the architecture, environment and lifestyle being few of the many reasons. However, all is not that glossy at JBR. A report by Emirates 24|7 sheds some light on how residents of JBR are experiencing one of the most basic household nuisance, rats.
While hundreds of rat traps have been installed in Jumeirah Beach Residences (JBR), the rodents are not sparing residents in newer communities such as Discovery Gardens.
Suhail S, a JBR resident, said: “The traps have been there for some months now. Fortunately, I haven’t seen rats out here.”
Earlier postings on JBR community blog reveal the community was facing a rodent menace and authorities are well aware about it.
Madhura P, a resident of Discovery Gardens, said: “At a certain time of the day, we can hear noises in our air-conditioning duct… one can clearly make out that it’s a rat out there.”
“While we got the duct clean, rodent droppings could be seen everywhere… unfortunately, the traps and the poison did not help. There is no action taken by Nakheel… their call centre personnel just tell us to solve our problems on our own.”
Another resident said: “I stay on the top floor and am fed up with rats. I don’t know where they come from, but they can be found on the ceiling. Although I’ve reported the issue many times to the pest control company, but there has been no relief yet.”
A thread here tells of rats at Choithram’s in JBR.
Image: Miqel.com
It was a historic day for Dubai when first test cargo flight landed at Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International airport, giving the green light for operations to begin next Sunday.
Emirates Flight EK9883, a Boeing 777 freighter operating Hong Kong-Dubai and piloted by Captain Ahmad Bin Huzaim and First Officer Nabil Yousuf Ahmad Mohammad Rai Al Boom, touched down on Sunday afternoon.
The airport is part of a $33 billion Dubai World Central (DWC) project that will take Dubai’s reputation for a transport hub to a whole different level.
The master plan includes six interrelated developments; the world’s largest airport, Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai Logistics City, DWC Aviation City, DWC Residential City, DWC Commercial City and DWC Golf City.
The combined developments are designed to serve the city’s aviation, tourism, commercial and logistics requirements up to 2050 and beyond.
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.
When completed, Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International 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 facility opens initially for cargo carriers, with passenger operations currently slated to start up at the end of March 2011 in concert with the IATA schedule change, operating company Dubai Airports announced on Monday.
DWC will combine air and land cargo while its location just a few kilometres from one of the region’s largest port at Jebel Ali connected by a dedicated highway, will give it the ability for one of the quickest transfer time for goods.
The trial also tested communication links between all the parties involved – Emirates SkyCargo, Dubai Airports, Dubai Air Navigation Services, Dubai Police, Customs, Immigration, Engineering Projects, Dubai Logistics City, Dubai World Central, JAFZA, Dnata, Swift Freight and the Roads and Transport Authority.
Every day in Dubai makes you wonder how business booms here and why investors and businessmen across the globe come here, considering the pathetic customer service provided by most of the insitutions established in Dubai.
Take for example, Mashreq Bank, with slogan of ‘we do banking, you do life’. How inspring it seems, but reality is quite different.
A friend recently informed me about the worries induced on him by Mashreq Bank. He has a business account with them. One day he noticed a deduction of Dhs 250 from his account. As he was out of UAE, he contacted them through e-banking support about this unsolicited deduction. After sending the complaints few times, he was informed that the deduction was made because he has to submit renewed copy of his Trade Licsense. When he asked why he was not informed about this earlier and why the charge was made without prior notice, Mashreq Bank opted to remain silent. He was referred to a customer support person who is so incompetent that he can not extract the scanned copy of Trade License from his email, do not respond back to emails or SMS messages.
After 10 days, his issue is still pending. The customer support person is insisting to see original Trade Licsense, despite the fact that my friend is telling him that he is not in UAE and unable to visit for next 3-4 months.
My friend filled their online feedback forms but received no response from that either. Mashreq Bank has no other way of making a complaint online. Is this the way to do banking?
While the media in Dubai (and UAE) follows strict protocol of not revealing information that might harm the reputation of “glowing economy” of UAE, some bits and pieces of “real” news slip out of the net.
Khaleej Times referred to a recent incidents where scores of expats dumped their vehicles in Dubai and flew back home to escape from credit card, bank loans and other financial liabilities, in the wake of recent job cuts in Dubai.
It is also reported that Sharjah Police has beefed up security, especially in labour camps, to prevent crimes that could take place as a result of current and expected job losses.
Moreover, the names of people who owe money to the banks are listed in the system and they wouldn’t be able to leave the country until they settle their debts. Their names will remain in the system until the banks request removal of their names from the blacklist. In order to tackle such issues, police patrols have been increased and undercover policemen have been deployed.