The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1. Photo: Abu Dhabi Police
The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1. Photo: Abu Dhabi Police
The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1. Photo: Abu Dhabi Police
The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1. Photo: Abu Dhabi Police

Abu Dhabi to introduce minimum speed limits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Road


Patrick Ryan
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Abu Dhabi is set to introduce minimum speed limits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Road.

General Ahmed Saif bin Zaytoun Al Muhairi, director of Central Operations Sector at Abu Dhabi Police, said the minimum speed on the first and second lanes from the left will be 120kph, while the maximum speed remains at 140kph.

Motorists, who drive below 120kph on the first two lanes of the four-lane highway that links Abu Dhabi and Dubai, will be fined Dh400.

Abu Dhabi Police made the announcement on their social media channels on Thursday afternoon.

“The goal of the low-speed activation is to ensure the safety of drivers, to require slow vehicles to move on the right lanes and to always make way for vehicles with preference coming from behind or from the left,” Gen Al Muhairi said.

The third lane with a speed of 140kph and the last lane for use by heavy vehicles will not include minimum speed violations, police confirmed.

The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1.

The Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Road, named in honour of the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, opened in November 2016.

The 62-kilometre motorway, built at a cost of Dh2.1 billion, shares traffic with Sheikh Zayed Road to ease congestion between the two cities.

The motorway begins where Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road ends in Seih Shuaib, on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border, and has a capacity for 8,000 vehicles an hour with four lanes in each direction.

It passes through the green belt at Al Maha forest, Khalifa Port Industrial Zone and Bida Khalifa.

The road intersects with Al Ajban Road and bypasses Shahama, Zayed Military Camp and Al Falah, all the way to the Sweihan Road interchange.

It also directly links to Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi airport and Al Ain Road.

There are two new petrol stations, one on each side, between interchanges 1 and 2.

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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.”

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