Abu Dhabi // The Executive Council yesterday approved plans to spend Dh1.5billion on infrastructure projects across the emirate.
The developments were announced yesterday at a meeting chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
The plans include work on an 80-kilometre, double-lane motorway linking Madinat Zayed with Ghayathi costing Dh267.5million.
Housing will also be built in Al Ain, with a bus depot being constructed in Khalifa City along with new street lighting and pavements.
The Ghayathi road project will include building roundabouts, junctions and fitting solar-powered lighting.
The existing road was upgraded in November with speed bumps, junctions, pedestrian walkways and roundabouts added.
There are seven roundabouts, ending the need for commuters to u-turn to change direction.
More upgrades are being warmly welcomed by the community, said Al Fandi Al Mazrouei, 27, who was born and raised in the area.
"Before, there were a lot of entries to the main road," he said. "This led to more accidents for the cars."
Congestion has also eased, he added.
But while the work is required, locals in Ghayathi said there were more pressing issues in need of attention.
There is a considerable lack of housing in the area, with certain groups of people – such as local women whose husbands have more than one wife – finding themselves at a loss.
“I am the second wife and I don’t get a home,” said one woman. “I live with my two young children in my father’s house. We need more housing and schools.”
This evening, after celebrating the joint wedding of two of his younger brothers, Saleh Al Mazrouei will head home to a house he shares with his wife and four children – along with his mother and his four siblings’ families.
In the house next door, the living situation is even more cramped, said Mr Al Mazrouei. “This is my mother’s house, we have five families,” he said. “In the house next to us there are 13 families.”
Most housing in the area is for Government employees only.
But the Goverment is committed to building homes for Emiratis across the country, including in Ghayathi.
“It’s not like in Abu Dhabi where you can buy houses,” Mr Al Mazrouei said. “Now, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, he will give us more, and this house, this will be demolished.”
Built in 1988 – one of first houses constructed in Ghayathi – the cost of upkeep is too much, said Mr Al Mazrouei, who has requested a new house once some are built.
There are plans to build hundreds of new houses in the area, all for locals, said some long-term residents.
The area also needs new schools and healthcare facilities, a process that has already begun.
“There is a new school, Glenelg, which will maybe be ready in October,” said Mr Al Mazrouei.
When open, his two youngest children will be enrolled.
A new hospital, which Mr Al Mazrouei said would be the largest in the Western Region, is another of many pending projects.
“There will be three new gardens; we already have enough roads,” he said. “But there is one problem: the souq. It is very old.”
The upgrades will bring more people to Ghayathi, for work and for pleasure, said Al Fandi Al Mazrouei, who works in Ruwais.
“They are doing everything in Ghayathi,” he added.
“There will be new parks, they will build a water park – like Wild Wadi in Dubai – and they will build new housing in the North.
“It’s becoming bigger, step by step. And, of course, it will increase employment. It’s better than before, now.”
zalhassani@thenational.ae
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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%3Cp%3E1.%20Labour%20productivity%20is%20lower%20than%20the%20average%20of%20the%20developed%20economies%2C%20particularly%20in%20the%20non-tradable%20industries.%3Cbr%3E2.%20The%20low%20level%20of%20basic%20skills%20among%20workers%20and%20the%20high%20level%20of%20inequality%20between%20those%20with%20various%20skills.%3Cbr%3E3.%20Low%20employment%20rates%2C%20particularly%20among%20Arab%20women%20and%20Ultra-Othodox%20Jewish%20men.%3Cbr%3E4.%20A%20lack%20of%20basic%20knowledge%20required%20for%20integration%20into%20the%20labour%20force%2C%20due%20to%20the%20lack%20of%20core%20curriculum%20studies%20in%20schools%20for%20Ultra-Othodox%20Jews.%3Cbr%3E5.%20A%20need%20to%20upgrade%20and%20expand%20physical%20infrastructure%2C%20particularly%20mass%20transit%20infrastructure.%3Cbr%3E6.%20The%20poverty%20rate%20at%20more%20than%20double%20the%20OECD%20average.%3Cbr%3E7.%20Population%20growth%20of%20about%202%20per%20cent%20per%20year%2C%20compared%20to%200.6%20per%20cent%20OECD%20average%20posing%20challenge%20for%20fiscal%20policy%20and%20underpinning%20pressure%20on%20education%2C%20health%20care%2C%20welfare%20housing%20and%20physical%20infrastructure%2C%20which%20will%20increase%20in%20the%20coming%20years.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'
Rating: 3/5
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
