Vision Magazine Online Issue 1

“I never thought once that we would miss the
deadline,” says Talal Al Dhiyebi, Aldar’s Director of
Planning and Infrastructure. “Because everyone in
Aldar was focused on delivering to this date.
“Despite my confidence, I was not able to fully
comprehend that we had actually completed the track
on time until the actual race day. Seeing all those
people on the track before the race - the media, the
celebrities - and then hearing the roar of the F1 cars
when the lights turned green; that was when I realised
that the race was really happening and that we had
delivered Formula One to Abu Dhabi,” remembers Al
Dhiyebi.
Aldar has been rightly praised for delivering worldclass
race facilities and Formula One to Abu Dhabi.
At its peak, the developer had to manage 48,000
workers on site – a monumental logistics effort. And
it had to complete the development within a tight and
unmoveable deadline, especially as it was looking
like the outcome of the 2009 Formula One World
Championship would be decided at the last race of the
season – the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit.
In the end Jenson Button secured his first F1 World
Championship in the previous race in Sao Paolo,
Brazil, but the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was still highly
anticipated. It was the only new track to be unveiled
during 2009 and it was also the last Grand Prix of the
season, which always has a special resonance among
race fans.
“The arrival of Formula One meant that Abu Dhabi
was going to appear on the world map and would be
subject to the scrutiny of a worldwide audience and
media interest,” recalls Al Dhiyebi. “But it was also Abu
Dhabi’s opportunity to demonstrate to the world that
it could deliver substantial developments.”
Aldar was already underway with the development on
Yas Island when the Urban Planning Council was formed
in the summer of 2007 with the responsibility of
managing the future of Abu Dhabi’s urban environment
and delivering the Vision of Capital 2030 (the Urban
Structure Framework Plan originally called Plan Abu
Dhabi 2030). Al Dhiyebi admits that there was some
concern at the time that the UPC could halt the Yas
Island project and force a redesign of the race track and
associated facilities, such as the hotels, roads, marina,
infrastructure and the Ferrari World theme park. This,
says Al Dhiyebi, would have seriously affected the
construction schedules possibly making the task even
more difficult than it already was.
But Al Dhiyebi soon realised that his concerns
were unfounded. “Some government agencies
have a reputation for being bureaucratic, but
the UPC was the very opposite. The UPC fully
understood our tight deadline and worked closely
with us to ensure the Grand Prix was delivered.”
22 VISION MAGAZINE - ISSUE ONE