UMM AL QAIWAIN // Along the sleepy streets that line the beaches of Umm al Qaiwain's market area, tin-roofed houses are crumbling after years of neglect. Chickens wander in and out of bare rooms with dirt floors.
In March, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, announced the creation of a Dh16 billion (US$4.3bn) development fund to help make such scenes a thing of the past. Few in Umm al Qaiwain, perhaps the poorest emirate, profess to have heard of the programme to overhaul infrastructure in the northern areas. On learning of the plans, they express relief that some help is on the way and welcome the idea of greater federal oversight of future development.
"There are rules from both federal and local governments," says Abdul Hye Chowdhury, managing director of a manufacturing business. "It would be better if there were more control by the federal Government - it would be equal for everyone." Other businessmen agree, saying development will continue to stagnate until a more comprehensive set of laws is laid down by the federal authorities. For one real estate developer, blame for the emirate's woes lies squarely with the local authorities.
"The municipality always changes the rules - we don't know what they are or what they mean," he says. "The law is not applied evenly - for one person, they might allow them to get things done easily. But for some people, it's like the municipality has a totally different law for them." Until these issues are addressed, he says, the economy is unlikely to improve as quickly as those of other emirates, where rapid development is evident. Umm al Qaiwain Municipality officials have so far been unable to respond to such criticisms.
Under the development plan, the office of Sheikh Khalifa is collaborating with federal Government in the planning or improvement of dozens of roads, as well as sewer and drainage systems and green public parks in Umm al Qaiwain and the other northern emirates of Ajman, Fujairah and Ras al Khaimah. Much of the infrastructure of these emirates is in disrepair, which is believed to be having a negative knock-on effect on the economies of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
But nowhere is infrastructure development needed more than in Umm al Qaiwain, the least populated emirate. Public services are patchy. Rubbish and other debris line roads, while the smell of raw sewage wafts through residential areas where children play. A significant industrial base has yet to emerge. Unemployment is high, while most nationals living in the area commute to jobs in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
As neighbouring Ras al Khaimah and Ajman try to implement the market-orientated policies that transformed Dubai into a regional economic hub, Umm al Qaiwain appears to be taking a more hands-off approach. In recent years, residents say, little has been built. A large Emaar housing project is under construction, villas have appeared for the better off and there is a popular water park, though the Dh100 entry fee means most customers are from Dubai. There are also several new car showrooms and a few new banks.
For Abdul Rahman, 24, a goods trader, it will take more than money and new roads to make Umm al Qaiwain prosperous. "There could be more improvements in organisation here," he says. Indeed, commitment to development in the emirate appears to have been fickle over the years and there are examples of stalled projects everywhere, including the skeletal remains of partly built houses and empty tracts of levelled land.
Residents also complain that rents have soared and the cost of living has risen abruptly, due in part to a growing shortage of places to live created by Dubai companies using the emirate to house thousands of labourers. For many here, the result is that they continue to live on the edge of poverty while the rest of the country experiences unprecedented growth. Asked his opinion about the plan for the northern emirates, Obeid Akhla, 19, who co-owns Al Sultan restaurant, sums up the feelings of many residents: "I've never heard of this, but it would be a great idea."
Turning to a group of customers, he adds: "Maybe in two years, this will make us a proper city." @Email:hnaylor@thenational.ae
