“It’s like Dubai, ten years ago,” is a description of places in the Gulf that are not Dubai so well worn it is a surprise it has not yet been co-opted by the tourist boards of Doha, Manama and Kuwait, to name only three. It would look good on t-shirts, perhaps – appealing to those who don’t like the glitz and pace of the UAE’s most famous destination.
Dubai was a $100bn project, HH Maktoum bin Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, possibly conservatively, recently told delegates at a conference organised by this magazine, $100bn spent judiciously over the last two decades. That was the cost of the infrastructure, he said, and the result of that spending was Dubai’s preeminence amongst the leading cities of the GCC. It would take at least a decade for anywhere else in the region to catch up, he added. And the cost of doing so, of course, at today’s prices would be a good deal more than $100bn.
The thing is, there are at least three places in the GCC with a good deal more than $100bn to spend, and the will to do it. Money alone won’t be enough, of course, there are many other factors to consider. And Dubai is established in the global consciousness now - trying to overhaul a ten year start would be desperately difficult for any would-be rival.
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