RSS
Adventures In Dubailand Part II
A Brave New World
As you approach Dubai by freeway you traverse vast desert and scorching hot sun. Many Mosques line the sides of the road, as well as numerous housing projects that seem to go on forever.
Then suddenly in what seems to be a haze or fog a shadow, a tall shadow appears. It’s the burj Dubai.
When completed it will be the tallest building in the world, by far. The question is for how long, other big projects are planned. Yikes, are there any cranes left, any steel, any cement, any brains?
In the meantime, that’s a lot of office space to rent out. But then again Dubai plans to have an astonishing 180,000 hotel rooms by 2015. 141,000 just in the next seven years. Currently there are a mere 60,000 hotel rooms available.That is the blaring headline on the front page of the Gulf News Daily Business section.
Anyway, the burj is huge, but Just how tall the tower will be remains to be seen.
As with any skyscraper, there is a certain amount of “fudge room” where the actual height of the construction may not be exactly what was anticipated. With a project as massive as this, more flexibility is called for in the design, planning, and execution. At this time, the tower is expected to be 2,683 feet tall (818 meters).
However, those numbers have changed in the past and are likely to change again. There are estimates that it could go as high as 3,116 feet (950 meters) when all is said and done. It is also unclear how many stories will be in this tower. Early estimates were around 200, but those have been lowered to 189 as construction progresses.
Anyway as we continued on to my hotel, the Fairmont Dubai, I noticed the new monorail/train Dubai is building. In fact the elevated train runs along the freeway almost the whole way as you enter Dubai. I could see the workers on top of the pylons and trestles, seemingly without any harnesses or safety equipment several stories in the air.
Surely, if the fall doesn’t kill you the cars going 85 mph below most certainly will. Suddenly my job doesn’t seem so bad. Throw in the 120 degree heat and 15 hour day and well I think you have the job from hell.
Aussie Joel, my mate from Agora and his girlfriend were telling me at dinner the other night, that these guys, mostly Indian and Malay’s, work in these conditions in July when the heat is even more intense. Worse still, during Ramadan they cannot even drink water due to the fasting requirement.
That means from Sept 1st-September 30th certain things are off limits, refer to chart above.
Now I am not criticizing or judging anyones religion, not at all. I just am saying I can’t imagine working in those conditions, especially in that heat, and no water. Joel said that at least one a week keels over or slips and falls into traffic, it’s just part of it. Nice!
Anyway, nobody fell on my car so we drove onto the Fairmont and pulled up to the front of the hotel. Below you can see the Fairmont in the lower right corner.
Now want to get a real sense of the growth rate here in Dubailand. Here is the same stretch of road only a few years ago. It’s simply incredible.
Now I’m sure like me you may have seen these before and after pictures somewhere else, but let me tell you until you see it up close it’s really hard to grasp.
Anyway, I checked in to the Fairmont, always a fantastic hotel. In fact that is the hotel chain the Agora Investment Symposium is held each July in Vancouver. I hope you can come join us this year. I will put a link on here soon.
Anyway. I settled into my room and figured out all the things I wanted to see. First I rang Joel and we planned for dinner out by the Palm Islands, but first I had to run to CNBC Arabia to do an interview.
Again, it beats working on a three story pylon above a freeway, it’s still work. More from Dubai in my third installment tonight right here.
Also I will post my appearance on CNBC Friday on Kudlow & Co. I was noticeably jet lagged but still able to get in a few punches…lol Check back this afternoon.
By the way happy Mothers Day. Alexandra and I took Mom to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, she loves to take photos so we knew she would like it. We both love her very much, because of course she is the best mom in the world.
Enjoy the day with your MOM!
