United Arab Emirates - PM Communications

UMM AL-QAIWAIN & SHARJAH / 12UAE 3rd NOVEMBER 2007SHARJAHDEVELOPMENTAT A MORERELAXED PACEInvestment has soared in Sharjah which hassuccessfully been developing non-oil activitiesSharjah is already a well-known destinationfor many tourists and businesses.Geographically contiguous with Dubai,the thirdlargest emirate has an international airport,which includes the biggest air cargo hub in thewhole of the Middle East and Africa region.This has helped facilitate not just trade, butalso an influx of people keen to learn moreabout local culture and to experience some ofSharjah’s own delights.A centre of regional culture– it was once crowned UNESCO’s Arabworld cultural capital – the emirate also boastsbeaches aplenty, luxury resorts and a varietyof shopping malls.The Blue Souq,for example,is a sprawling market with around 600 outletsselling everything from gold and expensivePersian rugs to local souvenirs.While tourism remains a high priority forthe local authorities,trade and investment hassoared, with Sharjah offering its own uniqueClose to Dubai, Sharjah has its own appeal to visitors – at more moderate pricesincentives,as well as enjoying any overspill fromDubai.Sitting on about 5 per cent of the UAE’sgross oil and gas reserves, the emirate hastapped these resources to take a lead in otherareas. Indeed, Sharjah accounts for approximately40 per cent of the UAE’s industrialGDP,reflecting both the strength and depth ofits economy. Last year, gross domestic productgrew by 19 per cent to £5.6 billion, comparedwith £5.01 billion in 2005.Proximity to Dubai means that many peoplecommute,taking advantage of Sharjah’s typicallylower cost of living. Real estate development,likeelsewhere in the UAE,is also a boomingmarket.The Sharjah International Airport is one ofthe emirate’s key selling points,just 10 minutesaway from Sharjah city centre.The airport datesback to 1932 when Imperial Airways, a forerunnerto British Airways, constructed an airfieldas a stopover en route to India and Australia.At that time, Sharjah ranked as one of the airline’smore remote outposts as well as beingthe first airport in the country.Today, it has the capacity to handle around8 million passengers every year and still continuesto grow.It is also a hugely successful transshipmenthub, especially for inter-modal cargo.Theairport offers some of the fastest transittimes for cargo being shipped in by sea andflown out by air:approximately six hours.Thisis partly because the seaports are located onboth sides of the Sharjah coast,two in the Gulfon the UAE’s western coast, and one in theGulf of Oman, on the UAE’s eastern coast.The two principal ports are Mina (port)Khalid in Sharjah City and Khor Fakkan on theeast coast. Located at these strategic air andmaritime hubs are some of the UAE’s most successfulfree zones, notably the SharjahInternational Airport Free Zone and theHamriyah Free Zone, with its deep sea portconnections,which handle some of the world’sbiggest ocean-going vessels.Sharjah was the first place in the Middle Eastto install fully equipped container facilities andhas enjoyed the massive growth in the globalcontainer market of recent years.A further reflection of Sharjah’s internationalcredentials is its Expo Centre, a state-of-theartmeeting point for business conventions andtrade fairs which draws people from across theMiddle East and the wider world.The city of Sharjah also holds great appealfor visitors, full of beautiful waterfront hotels,mosques, parks and gardens.Within touchingdistance of Dubai,it offers visitors more of theluxury and splendour familiar throughout theUAE, but at a more relaxed pace, and withmore moderate pricing. ●UMM AL-QAIWAINREALISING UN-TAPPED POTENTIALDevelopers are realising that the emirate ofUmm Al-Qaiwain has its own unique attractionsLocated in the northern part of the country,not far from Sharjah and Dubai, UmmAl-Qaiwain is another of the lesser known emirates.Yet with some of the country’s mostbeautiful natural landscapes, it should not beoverlooked. Positioned between Sharjah tothe south-west and Ras Al-Khaimah to thenorth-east, it offers something very differentto some of the frenetic developments takingplace elsewhere in the UAE.That said,Umm Al-Qaiwain itself is now beginningto take its first real steps towards development.Traditional occupations such asfishing and date cultivation remain important,but now there is an industry free zone to stimulatemore diversified business interests.Important local industries include cement productionand a plastics factory.Umm Al-Qaiwain’s lengthy coastline hassome of the finest beaches in the whole of theUAE, and the emirate offers some of the bestsailing and bird watching. Sinaiyah Island, forinstance,close to the town of Umm Al-Qaiwain,the emirate’s capital, is home to one of thelargest colonies of Socotra cormorants in theworld.The untapped potential has certainly beennoticed.Leading property group Emaar has registeredwhat this destination has to offer andis engaged in real estate work,in close accordwith the government of the emirate.Some impressivearchitectural ideas and constructionmore akin to Dubai are now taking shapethere.Emaar’s flagship Umm Al-Qaiwain marinaproject offers waterfront living along the emirate’sspectacular shoreline.The development,which surrounds a purpose-built marina, willbe a vast master-planned waterfront communityon the shore of Khor al-Beidah, offeringresidential villas and apartments to locals andoutsiders. Some of the villas with waterfrontviews will be built on a large island with gatedaccess, while a series of smaller private islandswill offer luxury waterfront villas for theUAE’s more discerning residents. In addition,resort and hotel rooms, as well as parks andrecreational areas, retail facilities, schools andThe capital of the emirate boasts no fewer than seven forts, some recently renovatedcommunity centres are planned or under way.Although this is not new for the UAE it isthe first of its kind for Umm Al-Qaiwain,whichEmaar describes as a “picture perfect location”with over 14 miles of waterfront.The town of Umm Al-Qaiwain itself,the emirate’scapital,sits just 30 miles north-east of hightempo Dubai, but offers its own unique attractions– a world away from one of the MiddleEast’s most dynamic tourist and business centres,yet close enough to feel the effects.The town’s historical roots are to be seenall over,but there is a clear attempt to embracemodernity with a multi-million dollar aqua park,Dreamland, raising the emirate’s profile withinthe UAE and the wider regional market.This is not the only investment in Umm Al-Qaiwain’s tourist potential.Another local playgroundis the Flamingo Beach Resort, a majorwater sports destination offering activitiesfrom crab hunting and glass bottom boat rides,to snorkelling, diving and fishing.These leisure ventures are complementedby other development projects as the governmentmaps out a more modern future.TheUmm Al-Qaiwain Free Zone,formed in 1998,sits very close to Dubai and the UAE’s othermajor trading hubs. Known as the AhmedBin Rashid Free Zone, it was set up withinthe confines of the Ahmed Bin Rashid Port.It consists of over 2700 feet of quay wall,1300of which can handle ocean-going vessels, and387,000 square feet of land reserved for lightindustrial development. Manufacturing, tradingand consultancy activities are all permittedwithin the zone. ●