DUBAI // On any given weekend evening, you can play a game of "spot the most expensive licence plate" on Jumeirah Beach Road.
The three-digit number plate has long been the pinnacle of vanity in Dubai. A random collection of three digits is valued almost as highly as the luxury car it's on.
Now, from the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Licensing Agency of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) will offer three-digit vehicle number plates of Codes G, F and K at a discounted, fixed rate of Dh130,000.
"This service is offered for the first time to various community segments, particularly the enthusiasts and collectors of distinguished three-digit numbers, who continuously ask for the allocation of such numbers citing difficulties in obtaining them from the external market," said Mohammed Abdul Nimaat, the director of Vehicles Licensing at RTA's Licensing Agency.
"Not to mention the prices, which might be as high as Dh150,000 for each plate or up to Dh170,000 at some auctions.
"This is a great opportunity for people to get a suitable three-digit number plate."
Not everyone seems as excited about the news as the RTA might like.
"I think this move will lower the demand on the three digit plates," said a 38-year-old Emirati business owner who did not want to be named.
"They've made it readily available and taken away what makes the three digit plates special," he said.
"I've been buying number plates as a hobby for more than 10 years now. I've made some good investments on some of them, but I think this whole idea of having a nice number on your car is beginning to fade.
"Everyone will have them now, the exclusivity will disappear, and it won't be something special anymore."
malkhan@thenational.ae
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
