Dubai World’s Limitless real estate developer arm has announced that work has started on the Arabian Canal, Dubai’s latest mega-development.

It will be a 75km long waterway flowing into the desert from Dubai Waterfront, which includes the massive Palm Jebel Ali island, and back out to the Gulf near Palm Jumeirah, the first and smallest of the palm-shaped islands. They say the canal, costing US$11 billion, will be the largest and most complex civil engineering project ever undertaken in the Middle East.

Gulf News graphic
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The Dubai Municipality has announced a period of 1 year for all Sheesha Joints to take steps to abide by the new regulations relating to smoking.

As per the regulations, a sheesha joint needs to provide an area of at least 50 square feet for cleaning and preparation of sheesha, a stainless steel table for preparation and a separate wash basin (sink) for washing sheeshas only.
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The expansion of Garhoud Bridge, which started in February 2006 with a completion date of March 2008, will have 14 lanes when completed, with a total capacity of 16000 cars per hour, compared to the existing 8000 cars per hour.

4 out of 14 lanes were opened to traffic the day before yesterday for traffic from Bur Dubai to Deira. Commuters travelling the other way still use the old Al Garhoud bridge.

However, the motorists will have to pass through the Salik Toll gates to use the new bridge.

Traffic diverted through the newly opened four lanes of the New Al Garhoud Bridge will break up at the end of the bridge into three lanes bound for Al Qusais and Sharjah, and the remaining lane will lead to four lanes, two of which will lead to Al Rebat Road outbound to Al Rashidiya and Nad Al Hammar, and the other two lanes to Casablanca Road outbound to Dubai International Airport.

The Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that the first two Metro trains have been transported out of the factory to undergo driverless operation and climatic testing in various locations in Japan.

The first train underwent dynamic tests at a speed of up to 60km per hour as well as signalling tests for the purpose of driverless operation.

The tests conducted were functional dynamic test, automatic speed control, emergency braking and other safety-related tests. These were carried out at Mihara Test Track which is located near Hiroshima.

The second train was at Nippon Sharyo facilities, located in Nagoya, and went through climatic testing, which would determine the suitability of the train’s air-conditioning system to Dubai’s climatic conditions.

Following the completion of these tests, the two trains will go through final pre-shipment inspection.

Source: khaleej times

This is a good time to be in Dubai and for me not just because the weather is so pleasant now. Daytime around 30C, night around 20C and low humidity.

For me it’s a visual thing too.

My favourite colours are the orange/yellow/gold palette and at this time of year Dubai is full of those colours. The street landscaping, especially in areas of ‘New Dubai’, is full of marigolds and zineas. The landscaping method is to have large beds of the same colour flower so that there is, for example, a mass of gold, a mass of yellow, a mass of red.

It really is very effective, and very pleasant on the eye as you move around.

Some examples:

A follow-on to my posting last week about the severity of Dubai’s drug laws, which visitors often seem not to take seriously.

A Canadian brought in a tiny amount of marijuana, 0.66 grams for personal use.

He fired his layer, pleaded guilty and asked the court for a ‘fast verdict’, saying he would pay a fine and leave.

He has been sentenced to four years in jail followed by deportation.

There was a report in Gulf News the other day that deserves wider international coverage. I wonder whether it was picked up by media overseas, because it really is important that people visiting Dubai understand the laws.

The report was regarding the laws in relation to drugs and began:
“Passengers who get caught carrying tiny amounts of drugs in Dubai face between four to fifteen years in jail and cannot escape with a fine as some of them assume, cautioned a judge.”

The judge made the comments after a case in which a Canadian was charged with possessing 0.66 grams of marijuana for personal use.

The suspect pleaded guilty and asked presiding judge Fahmi Mounir to give him a speedy judgement so he could pay a fine.

He said he needed a “fast judgement” and would pay a fine and then leave.
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About a month ago I took a photograph of the area in Jebel Ali being prepared for the Dubai Waterfront development, which is where the Arabian Canal will begin. It looks like this:

Today Gulf News has an artist’s impression of how a section of it will look after the canal and its waterfront ‘city’ are built:

That’s some improvement!

Back in Dubai after three weeks in UK & Europe, then showing visiting friends around the city and some of the new developments. At last I can put some time into trying to post here more regularly.

We need more authors for the Dubai Metblog by the way, so if you’re interested let me know.

Back to the post - today the papers have run the story that the Arabian Canal is going ahead. It’s been talked about for a while but the latest rumours were that it was either put on hold or cancelled altogether. It seems they were what most rumours are, untrue.

Arabian Canal will be a 75 kilometre waterway will come in from the Arabian Gulf at Jebel Ali where the Dubai Waterfront development is taking shape, flow inland around the new World Central International Airport and back to the Gulf close to Dubai Marina and Palm Jumeirah.

Graphic from Gulf News
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“I had the same benefits in Monte Carlo, but I prefer Dubai because it is a much more exciting city with much more life”

So says former world number one junior tennis player Kristian Pless from Denmark.

He’s one of a growing number of sports professionals who either have homes here in which they spend some time or have moved here permanently.

They give the weather, the facilities, the geographic location, the lifestyle as other reasons for choosing Dubai.

World tennis number one Roger Federer is reported to spend more time at his home in Dubai Marina than in his country of birth Switzerland.

England footballers David Beckham and Michael Owen have houses here, as do their team mates Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.

Golfers South African Ernie Els, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson & Dane Thomas Bjorn plus British snooker star Peter Ebdon are just some of the sportsmen who are now based in Dubai as is former Indian Davis Cup tennis player Zeeshan Ali.

With the ICC, International Cricket Council, now based in Dubai and Sports City construction well advanced I think more and more sports stars will change their base to Dubai.

There’s an interesting article on the subject in Gulf News just here.