RAILWAY WILL PASS THROUGH THE UAE AND THE WHOLE ARABIAN PENINSULA
A feasibility study for a 3,000-kilometer trans-Arabian railway construction project will be completed in September this year. Its construction will cost $ 10 billion. The steel main route linking the six Arabian monarchies will begin in northern Kuwait and will pass through the main ports of the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and its industrial zones.
Muhammad al-Mazrui, Assistant Secretary General of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), told Al Ittihad newspaper that the railway would relieve inter-Arab air traffic by 40 percent and increase the total flow of passengers traveling in the region by 10 percent. The road will give a great economic effect, will promote the development of economic integration of the Arabian monarchies, will ensure the rise of regional trade, and will contribute to the development of tourism, including religious tourism.
The Trans-Arabian Railway will become even more important if Saudi Arabia decides to build railway lines in the direction of Mecca and Medina. The issue of its extension through the territory of Yemen is being discussed.
PLACES FOR INSTALLING TWO NEW SALIK FRAMES IN DUBAI
Two new frameworks of the Salik toll road system will be installed on the Al Maktoum bridge and between the first and second traffic intersections on the Sh. Sheikh Zayed, respectively, the Dubai Roads and Transport Committee (RTA) said. “The installation of two additional Salik frameworks will take place as part of the second phase of the implementation of the toll road system in Dubai. The location of the new“ gateway ”was selected after analyzing the results of a comprehensive study of traffic in Dubai,” said Matar Al Thayer, chairman of the board RTA.
According to the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai, two additional gates of the Salik electronic road system will be installed on the Al Safa Park Bridge on Sheikh Zayed Highway and on the bridge. " Al Maktoum "(Al Maktoum Bridge). Thus, the number of Salik gates will increase to four from September 9, 2008. Additional electronic gates of the system were installed in order to reduce traffic congestion caused by the fact that many drivers tried to drive along the Sheikh Zayed highway and, at the same time, avoid the fees of the system installed near the Mall of the Emirates and Al Garhud Bridge (Al Garhoud Bridge).
Since the introduction of the first pair of Salik gates in July last year, the RTA has shied away from talking about whether the system will be expanded. Nevertheless, information has been constantly appearing and appearing in the press about the expansion of the system, the electronic gates of which will also be installed on the Emirates Road, Al Khail Road, Al Ittihad Road ), in the Shindagha Tunnel, at the Business Bay Crossing and the Maktoum Bridge by 2009, as well as on the Shindagha Bridge, which is still to be built, and on the fifth bridge, which will cover the Dubai Creek (Dubai Creek) by 2010.
Recall, the system of toll roads "Salik" has been operating in Dubai since June 2007, when on the Al-Gharhud bridge and next to the traffic intersection in the Al-Barsha area on the highway named Sheikh Zayed installed an interactive framework that removes 4 drx from each car (a little more than a dollar) for each trip. The RTA claims that when passing two frames one after another, for example, following from Al Barsha to Al Safa, you will not have to pay twice. "Salik" was designed to remove part of the tension from the main transport highway of the city - the highway to them. Sheikh Zayed. According to RTA, the idea was effective. An RTA spokesman said that in areas where the Salik electronic toll system was introduced, traffic flow decreased by 25%, which increased the speed from 40 km / h to 80 km / h. However, according to most residents of Dubai, the system did not solve the problem with traffic jams, but only increased the cost of living.
SHARJA ENDS SMOKING BAN
Since June 1 of this year, the Emirate of Sharjah has introduced a ban on smoking in all public indoor facilities. The relevant decree was signed by the head of the municipality of Sharjah, Dr. Salah Al Haj. As follows from the information released by the municipality, public indoor facilities primarily include shopping centers, shops, restaurants, cafes, hairdressers and premises inside residential and office buildings.
Smoking areas will be located exclusively outside the building, without any exceptions. Violators of the new rule of conduct in public places face administrative penalties. A fine of 1000 dirhams (US $ 278) will punish private violators, while companies will be charged 10,000 drx (US $ 2,780) for the first violation, and 20,00 drx (US $ 5,555) for the second violation.
APPLICANTS FOR DRIVING RIGHTS IN THE UAE NEED TO PASS AN EXTRA TEST
A new test for driving in a high-speed highway was introduced in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as part of the final exam for job seekers. Abu Dhabi was the first of the emirates of the country where future drivers will be checked on the autobahns. It is possible that in the near future the experience of the capital will be accepted by other emirates.
According to Muhammad Mayuf Al Kitby, Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Driving License Department in Abu Dhabi Police, the introduction of an additional test for students in driving schools is caused by the need to prepare them for driving not only in city conditions, but also in high-speed highways, as the number of accidents on them is constantly increasing. The new test will be included in the compulsory program of the final exam in June.
FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 AND 2010 TO TAKE PLACE IN THE UAE
FIFA has chosen the United Arab Emirates as the venue for the Club World Cup 2009 and 2010 (FIFA Club World Cup). Emirates, who first participated in the tender, seemed to experts from FIFA more attractive than Australia, Japan and Portugal. Commenting on the choice of FIFA, Federation President Sepp Blatter said, among other factors, the decision was influenced by the fact that the championship in the UAE can be held in December, because of the tight schedule of games, teams have only one week at this time.
Club World Cup (FIFA Club World Cup, formerly FIFA Club World Championship) - a competition between the strongest representatives of continental club tournaments. It was conceived by FIFA as a replacement for the Intercontinental Cup. Winners of continental championships and one of the teams of the host country participate in the championship. Last year, the Italian club AC Milan received the cup. Since 2005, the tournament has been held in Japan, but in 2007 FIFA opened a tender for the right to host the championship in other countries. According to Blatter, the championship will return to the 2011 and 2012 games in Japan.
ABU DABI LEARNED TRANSPORT LESSON DUBAI
A new highway will connect Abu Dhabi with Dubai. In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a strategic plan for the development of transport for the period until 2030 has been announced, which will allow the city to avoid the transport problems experienced by Dubai. The plan includes the development of public transport, the construction of the metro, the creation of a sea taxi and the development of air communication between the cities of the country. The transport development strategy is still being finalized, and the route of the new highway linking the political and commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates has not yet been announced.
By the beginning of next year, 500 air-conditioned bus stops will be built in Abu Dhabi, which are planned to be placed on the main city highways. The construction of the city metro over the next 20 years is not excluded. Great importance is attached to the establishment of the port of Khalifa in the area of At-Tawil, which will become a major marine transshipment hub and industrial center. 80 million tons of cargo will pass through it.
DUBAI STARTED AN ACTIVE FIGHT AGAINST PIRATE PRODUCTS
The head of Dubai Customs convened a press conference to inform the general public that Dubai would no longer tolerate the presence of counterfeit pirated products on its market.
Mr. Ahamad Buti Akhmad, head of Dubai Customs, told the press that over the past few months, more than 1,000 inspectors have been recruited to the civil service, who will now work in a single direction. Comprehensive checks will be carried out in all sectors, from fashionable clothes and accessories to spare parts for cars imported into the UAE.
Mr. Ahamad Buti Ahmad said Dubai Customs will work closely with international organizations, including Interpol, to ensure the best protection of the country from the flow of fakes. He also expressed concern about the increase in online trade in counterfeit pirated products, which would be much more difficult to take control of than coordinate customs.
FLIGHT ABU DHABI - MOSCOW - MINSK OPENS IN DECEMBER
Etihad Airlines will begin regular flights to Moscow and Minsk in December this year. Moscow flights of the company will be daily. Flights to the capital of Belarus will be carried out three times a week. A company source said that the grand opening of the Abu Dhabi-Moscow line is scheduled for early December. Details of the extension of the flight to Minsk are still being discussed. The Abu Dhabi-owned airline Ettihad is also exploring the possibility of organizing flights of its passenger liners in Almaty. The company's flights to St. Petersburg are not yet included in its plans.
MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE FOR UAE EXPATRIENTS WILL BE LAWY BY THE END OF THE YEAR
The UAE Federal Law, which obliges employers to provide all their expatriate workers with medical insurance, will be adopted before the end of this year.
This was announced by Abdullah Muhammad AlAhmadi, manager of finance and administration of the Ministry of Health of the UAE at a regional conference on health, held in Abu Dhabi in late May. According to Mr. Al-Ahmadi, a minimum medical insurance package covering routine medical services, but providing for the option of covering surgical operations, will become mandatory.
At present, the draft law is being approved and finalized by the Ministry of Health and regional government structures.
ANOTHER ONE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WILL APPEAR IN THE UAE
Emirate Ajman will build his own international airport. The construction will last several years and will cost almost $ 3.5 billion. The place for the air gates of the emirate of Ajman, which is part of the state of the UAE, has already been selected. The airport will open in the town of Al Manama, 50 km from Dubai and will occupy an area of 650 hectares.
Construction work will begin after the new year. Upon completion of work in 4-5 years, the Ajman airport will meet annually a million passengers and handle 400 thousand tons of cargo. In the area of the airport, which will accept all types of passenger liners, hotels, shopping centers, commercial and residential buildings will be built.
HOTELS WITH DRY LAW BECOME FASHIONABLE IN UAE
With the increasing popularity of Dubai as a tourist destination, the demand for hotels with a “dry law” prohibiting the drinking of alcohol even behind closed rooms is increasing.
According to the Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing of Dubai (Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing), the demand for rooms where drinking alcohol is prohibited, is growing steadily. This is primarily due to the development of the so-called "Islamic tourism" sector, which dictates compliance with Sharia law. Currently, the share of the Islamic tourism sector is more than 10% of the global tourism market. Experts also note that the choice of "non-alcoholic" numbers is increasingly becoming a tribute to fashion.
At the moment, despite the fact that the Emirates is a Muslim country, the vast majority of hotels are allowed to sell alcohol and drink it within the room. The first major hotel in the country where the ban on alcohol was introduced was Dubai Taj Palace Hotel, opened almost ten years ago, managed by the Taj hotel chain. He is now joined by Shaza Hotels, Tamani Hotels and Resorts, Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) and Flora Hotels. The hotel chain Al Mulla Hospitality also plans to build several hotels in the country in full compliance with Islamic law.
SCHOOL BUS MONITORING SYSTEM DEVELOPED IN UAE
A new technology that allows parents to track the movement of children while they are on the school bus is recommended for implementation in all schools in the capital of the UAE, AbuDhabi. It was designed as a response to the death of a boy in a school bus as a result of adult negligence. The technology, called School Bus Locator, will not only tell parents where the school bus is located geographically, but also allow them to track its speed.
To get information, parents just need to go to the school’s website or send an SMS message and get real-time information about the bus. Alternatively, a message will be sent to parents and school administrators by default if the child does not appear at the school by the set hour. A package for the introduction of technology costs 6000 dirhams ($ 1667), which, according to the developers, is quite affordable for all schools in the country. Recall that the four-year-old baby Aatish Shabin, found unconscious in a school bus that stood for several hours under the scorching sun, died without regaining consciousness.
COMMUNICATION IN UAE IS CHEAPER
The presence of two or more mobile phones is the norm for wealthy residents of the UAE. For every one hundred indigenous people and foreign residents, including children and immigrant workers, there are 166 mobile phones.
According to Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghanem, Director of the State Department for the Organization of the Communications Sector, 6.3 million cell phone owners use Etisalat services. Du competing with Etisalat, which began work last February and employs about 2 thousand people, serves more than 2 million mobile phone users.
Muhammad al-Ghanem noted that there is “fierce competition” in the local communications market, due to which the cost of communication services has decreased by 15 percent overall, and by 24 percent in the Internet communications sector. He does not exclude that new players will appear on the communication market of the country, and communication will become even cheaper.
The director of the department noted the success of local signalmen in staffing with local personnel, which now make up 43 percent of the total number of employees. In the next three years, he said, every second communications worker will be the emirate. New emirate cadres are being trained in the USA.
UAE RESIDENTS GIVEN TIME TO PREPARE FOR INTRODUCING VAT
VAT in the United Arab Emirates will be introduced at the beginning of next year 2009, and not at the end of the year 2008, as previously planned.
The postponement of the introduction of VAT from the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2009 is due to the fact that the UAE is not yet ready to adopt a new tax system. Thus, VAT will be introduced in the first quarter of next year. Once the government is ready to introduce the tax, UAE residents will be given enough time to adopt and understand the new system. "We are working to optimize the process of introducing VAT, but for its practical implementation it is necessary that the whole country is ready," said Dubai Customs Director General Abdul Rahman Al Saleh to Reuters.
Recall that the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council created a single customs space in 2003 after the introduction of a unified import tax of 5%. VAT will replace this tax. Whether the amount of VAT will exceed the amount of the unified import tax is not reported. It is only known that the amount of VAT will initially be low.
