Wednesday, October 09, 2019

The Dubai Magic (2)

Dubai's Remarkable Economic Transformation
The Dubai Magic (1)

Shanghai has the skyscrapers and the highways and the metro of New York City. In fact, it has surpassed NYC on all of those fronts, perhaps. Shanghai has a bullet train, NYC does not. But Shanghai does not have NYC's cultural diversity. That is where Dubai has surpassed even NYC. More than 80% of the residents in Dubai are from outside. That is quite a ratio. Not only that, it is a major tourist destination.

When you step inside a bank, it feels different from the street you were walking on. All of Dubai feels like one big bank. The architecture of the city is breathtaking. Dubai is ready for take-off. It can be home to the next generation of financial services. If the current crop of financial services are computers, the next generation of financial services are as different as the Internet has been from pre-Internet computers. We are talking of something fundamentally different.

I intend to play a role.

Dubai's the Very Model of a Modern Mideast Economy Saudi Arabia is trying to reduce its dependence on oil. A neighbor has already done it......... For more than 100 years, the Middle East has been defined by oil exploration, production and its boundaries. Now the region is getting repurposed by its aspiration to grow beyond fossil fuel. The shake-up in Saudi Arabia's royal family was as much about becoming a 21st-century economy as it was about rooting out corruption. ........

None of the region's petrostates has moved further from its oilfield roots than Dubai, which has been diversifying its economy since the 1970s.

The result is a thriving gateway to globalization with a superior economic outlook. .......... The most populous of the seven United Arab Emirates and home to more than 200 nationalities .......

Situated within eight flying hours of two-thirds of the world's population, Dubai has the region's busiest international airport

measured in total passengers and fourth-largest airline based on revenue per passenger kilometer....... The relentless commitment to infrastructure development turned Dubai into the Mideast hub for finance, information technology, real estate, shipping and even flowers........

Oil production, which once accounted for 50 percent of Dubai's gross domestic product, contributes less than 1 percent to GDP today.

........... Energy officials in 2016 said renewable energy will account for 25 percent of the emirate's needs in 12 years. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, a year ago said that the renewable percentage will rise to 44 percent by 2050. ......... Even as oil prices declined 50 percent in 2014, construction continued unabated for Expo 2020, which aims to showcase "opportunity, mobility and sustainability" with a specific focus on education, financial capital, logistics, natural ecosystems and biodiversity, among other themes. .......... With oil down 37 percent since 2013, the Dubai stock market is up 155 percent and real estate firms are 135 percent more valuable ........ Since 2003, the seven companies that make up the real estate and construction sector of the index produced a 789 percent total return (income plus appreciation), beating the benchmark's 417 percent as well as the 250 percent return for the 242-member Bloomberg World Real Estate Index. No other market in the Persian Gulf comes close to replicating the performance of Dubai real estate. .......... Dubai now is poised to be the growth leader among the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, with GDP expanding 3 percent or more this year and in 2019










at No comments:
Labels:

Elon Musk's Giant Blind Spot: Human Beings

There is this no small detail called gravity. It is big, it is fat.



And gravity is physics. And Elon Musk has a degree in physics from U Penn. He must know his physics because he seems to send rockets out into space at will.

But Elon was no biology major, looks like.

There is this funny thing called gravity. The human body needs the earth's gravity. That is why long term human habitation on the moon is a bad idea. Robots? Yes. Human beings? No, no.

In absence of gravity, your eyes might bulge out. Your joints might start getting, well, disjointed. Your bones need gravity to stay bones.

But Elon stays oblivious to the fact. He says everyone who signs up for Mars will get 10 cubic meters of space inside his spaceship, "which is a lot."

And that's just gravity. Radiation will have to be another blog post. Radiation might make those ten cubic meters a microwave experience, which is a lot. Like, too much.

It is not like Elon does not have enough on his plate. There are trillions to be made through robotic asteroid mining. Spices used to be like gold. Gold can become like spices. I want his 10,000 satellites to provide gigabit broadband every point on earth. I like the idea of any point on earth to any other point on earth in 30 minutes. You escape zero gravity before the bones figure it out. Hyperloop is massive. I have an entire real estate tech startup around the Hyperloop concept. Tesla? I want one. Solar tiles on the roof? I want. Super cheap, super boring tunnels? I want them. Although it could get literally boring down there unless the walls of those underground vehicles come alive and are entertainment.

Save earth like this is the only planet we got. There is no other. Plant a trillion trees. Elon should design some drones that will plant those trillion trees. And his satellites should map out the earth to find out every patch of land where trees can be planted. And let's get it done and over with already.

Somebody drop an apple on Elon's head.











at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, October 08, 2019

The Dubai Magic (1)

Dubai's Remarkable Economic Transformation












Dubai Economy Dubai is an important tourist destination and its port (JebeL Ali) operates at the centre of the exporting trade in the Middle East. With the introduction of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in 2004, it has allowed Dubai to develop as a global hub for service industries such as IT and finance. ....... Dubai is the second wealthiest emirate in the UAE, after Abu Dhabi which is the capital state. Most tourists believe Dubai’s revenues came primarily from oil but in fact it only used a moderate amount of oil reserves to generate the infrastructure for trade, manufacturing and tourism, in order to build up Dubai's economy. ........

About 95% of Dubai’s Gross Domestic Product is not oil-based. So far oil has accounted for less than one percent of Dubai’s GDP and tourism to produce 20% of the GDP. These figures explain why Dubai has had to become a more dynamic and diversified economy in order to survive the decay of fossil fuels.

......... In the early 1990’s there were only a handful of hotels available for tourists and Dubai never had high oil revenues like Abu Dhabi so something had to change. The Burj Al Project in 1994 (Burj Al Arab Hotel) gave hope to the economy, as a long term strategy, an ambition to become the world’s top tourist destination. ......... Dubai is an international IT hub that serves service industries such as Finance and IT. Dubai Internet City, along with Dubai Media City forms the TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority), which is an enclave who houses well-known IT firms such as EMC Corporation, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Oracle Corporation and IBM, and media organisations such as BBC, MBC, CNN, Reuters and Sky News. ...... With an amazing growth rate of 6.1% in 2014, Dubai has again became one of the fastest growing economies in the world. ......

By 2014, Dubai’s largest trading partner was identified to be China followed by India and United States.

......... Based on its air traffic in 2013, Dubai was the 7th most visited countries in the world and it is being expected that Dubai will accommodate more than 15 million visitors by 2016. Dubai has also surfaced as the shopping capital of the Middle East, thanks to its diverse souks and innumerable shopping centres. Dubai is aptly referred to as the ‘City of gold’, as the city houses nearly 250 gold shops. ..........

Dubai has won the bid to host the most awaited Expo 2020, which will give an amazing boost to its economy, and is expected to create over 270,000 jobs.





Here's how Dubai transformed from a fishing village to a global real estate hub The city trails only New York and Shanghai for the number of buildings taller than 150 meters. ........ Dubai’s transformation from a fishing village to a global real estate hub has been nothing short of remarkable. From having the world’s tallest building to man-made islands in the shape of a world map, the U.A.E.’s most populous city has never shied away from ambitious construction projects........ Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, summed up the ambition of his people in a quote: "Dubai will never settle for anything less than first place." .......... Indeed, the city’s economic growth has been nearly unparalleled over the past two decades. Unlike neighboring emirates, Dubai had a modest supply of oil and knew that diversifying their economy would be vital for future success........ In 2002, reforms allowed foreigners to own real estate and that industry boomed overnight. Today, oil accounts for a minuscule 1% of Dubai’s GDP. ........... World’s tallest building – Burj Khalifa ..... World’s tallest hotel – JW Marriott Marquis Hotel....... World’s largest shopping center – Dubai Mall ....... World’s largest indoor theme park – IMG Worlds of Adventure ....... World’s Busiest Airport (International Travelers) – Dubai International Airport ......... World’s longest fully automated metro network – Dubai Metro ...........For a city of only 3.0 million people, Dubai has a remarkable number of skyscrapers. In fact, the city trails only New York and Shanghai for the number of buildings taller than 150m (492ft). ......... during the period of 2007–2014 Dubai essentially kept pace with high-rise development in the United States as a whole. (Dubai’s population is 0.9% the size of the United States.) ...........

In 2009, headlines around the world proclaimed that Dubai’s real estate bubble had finally burst.

........ Going into 2017, there were 11,600 active projects worth over $800 billion. As well, Expo 2020 is expected to add fuel to the twin engines of Dubai’s economy: real estate development and tourism. .......... With the U.A.E. set to further relax foreign ownership roles, the city’s economic prospects remain as sunny as its weather forecast.




































at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)