The opportunity that Dubai, the UAE, and the wider the Middle East offers has a lot to do with real estate and construction. Dubai especially has built a reputation on its ability to conceptualise and build very glamorous, very tall buildings. To describe the effects that these buildings have on the economy, is to describe the communities that are built around them. As one example, the area around the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa is called Downtown Dubai, and is home to shopping malls, hotels, residential districts, education, and leisure and a whole ecosystem of business and commerce.
One of Dubai’s largest current projects is Jumeirah Garden City, under the master the developer Meeras Development. The project aims to rejuvenate the area in between Dubai’s main highway, Sheikh Zayed Road, and Jumeirah beach. The project has an estimated worth of $89.5b and will cater to 50,000 to 60,000 local residents.
Another major development, not only for Dubai, but for the region itself, is Dubai World Central (DWC). DWC already houses what will be the world’s largest airport, Al Maktoum International, and is seen as being one of the developments bridging the geographical gap between the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Expo 2020 will also be sited at this location.
Slightly further south is the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), one of the country’s biggest recent infrastructure projects. Similar to Dubai World Central, it will be home to a lot of logistics facilities, contain a large business park community and will also hold accommodation for staff working within.
The UAE has flourished in recent decades due to the stability and safety it offers businesses that need a regional base from which to conduct operations. This continued investment in the infrastructure of the country is testament to the efforts of the government in ensuring that the UAE’s reputation for good business is maintained.
UK companies looking at these opportunities should not only consider the immediate prospects of being involved in the development projects themselves, but also the whole spectrum of economic growth, societal development and business across all sectors that will come as a result of these projects providing the UAE with more 21st century capacity and infrastructure.
Images used in this article have been sourced and may not represent accurately the completed projects