The Burj Khalifa (some of you may know it as the Burj Dubai before it was renamed Burj Khalifa) has finally opened its doors amid fanfare and fireworks. The building  is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m, some 300 m taller than its nearest rival, Taiwan’s Taipei 101. It cost over US $1.5 billion to construct and has already made headlines all over the world.

The Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa as Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, announced that the name would honour the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Khalifa had very little to do with the building BUT Abu Dhabi has rescued Dubai three times in the last twelve months, first buying $10 billion in Dubai bonds, then lending $5 billion, and on December 14 making $10 billion available for payment of immediate debts.

Not everyone is raving about the Burj khalifa with the Human Rights groups’ objections of the ill-treatment of 12000 labourers and the environmentalists protesting against the already enormous carbon footprint of Dubai. Still its a nice view if you can get all the way to the top.

The images give a very errie feeling of the Camels with the skyline of the Dubai dream in the background.

All the following images were taken by Imre Solt and are being used with permission. You can see more of his work at ImreSolt.com

Check this video out, which shows how scarily high the tower is.

I came across this interesting article about how Dubai World are about to finally open up the luxurious Vdara Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. Of course the Times focuses on the fact that you won’t be able to drink alcohol, smoke or gamble within its lavish rooms, which come at an astonishing £1200 a night I might add, and how that sits at odds with Vegas itself.

However, the Times misses the point of Vdara so utterly completely. In the week that Dubai World farcically handled its finances and threatened to derail their burgeoning progress, Vdara shows the fallacy of Dubai’s thinking of major investments.

Conceived at the height of its power Dubai World entered into a partnership as

part of a £5.1 billion development called CityCenter — co-financed by the American company MGM Mirage — which includes a “retail promenade”, 27 restaurants, and a $40 million (£24 million) art collection. What was the point? Why invest in such a lavish enterprise away from their own shores?

We all know the reasons. Looking through this blog will show the examples of Dubai’s wealth, especially overseas. The whole point was to maximise profit, so much so that they actually lost sight of not only who they were but why they entered into such ventures in the first place. Somewhere along the way Dubai forgot Dubai and that is why today you have an Islamic orientated organisation backed by a Islamic country trying to hold onto some form of Islamic ideals in the middle of a desert oasis which is renowned for anything but being Islamic.

Vdara shows how conceptually bankrupt Dubai has become, had it thought about how to use its wealth rather than just splashing the cash they would probably be in a much stronger position than it is today!

The real shocking things is the way the worlds media has reacted to the news , just like a sheep to the slaughter Dubai has well and truly been hung out to dry. There is talk of desert mirages, of an economy built on sand of Dubai being more like Argentina than Hong Kong all the cliches have come out. It is as if people are actually taking pleasure in the whole situation, turning their noses up at the new kid on the block that never quite made the grade (yet).

Whilst the current situation is bound to have a negative effect on the image of Dubai and hence investment, the real losers are those individual investors that have invested in property that is yet to be completed. Would it be fool hardy to keep pumping your savings to make repayments on an apartment that is yet to be built, who knows maybe the whole country is going bankrupt. For those looking to sell it could well mean a very long wait as I doubt anyone wants to buy at the current time. Things are not looking good.

However there could be a few reasons for optimism , reasons will be lost on a lot of journalists who just want the rip roaring headlines of Dubai failure.

1) Dubai World and Sheikh Maktoom are closing ranks, when in trouble surround yourself with people you know.

2) Dubai maybe out of oil but Abu Dhabi is not , there is no hint of Abu Dhabi not backing Dubai to the last when it comes to lending.

3) It is the wake up call that Dubai needed, a few home truths will help Dubai recover quicker.

4) The high risk takers will be leaving town, leaving Dubai to slow down and develop and progress from a more solid basis.

5) All the naysayers will be back in the new year to hail the opening of the Burj Dubai, there might even be talk of it representing the future of Dubai rising from ashes.

Dubai is most definitely on a War footing when it comes to it’s finances , this can only be a good thing. All that needs to be seen is who is General that will lead Dubai out of this mess.

Dubai has become a big pull for cruise ships, its hot and sunny has beautiful beaches and most of all has a port, this makes it an ideal stopover for a cruise ship. You don’t have to stay too long (let’s be honest sometimes too much of Dubai is not a good thing) . Costa cruises has been using Dubai as a base for ‘winter sun’ cruise sector since 2006, when it placed it first ship in Dubai.

Costa likes Dubai so much it will hold the naming ceremony of its newest Ship right here in Dubai, the name of the ship has already been chosen, Costa Deliziosa the only thing that remains is to make it official.  This is a bit of an improvement for the Cruise sector in Dubai as recent plans for the QE2 to be made into a floating hotel have been put on hold, as have the plans to make the artificial reef where the QE2 was to be moored.

Costa expects to have three ships sailing out of Dubai by 2010 , carrying over 100,000 passengers each year.

Also see:   Dubai Is Big Player In Cruise Market

How would it do that? What can Dubai possibly do to attract some attention to it? Well let’s work off the two things Dubai does best.

1. Attract the most glamorous and biggest names in any sector

2. Be the biggest and best.

The most glamorous name in F1 has to be Ferrari without a doubt , so Dubai has built a Ferrari store , big deal I hear you say, I mean there is even one of them in Saudi Arabia isn’t there?

Well when Dubai can’t be unique and exclusive it goes to point 2 I listed above, Dubai just builds it bigger and better than anyone else. The store was opened by Ferrari drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella.

The new store which is located in Dubai Festival City Centre boasts a massive 1000 square meters of shopping space, that is enough of any level of Ferrari enthusiast. There is more to the store then just shopping, you can even try and see how well you do on a varying number of F1 circuits in the fans interaction area. There will also be a lounge, meeting rooms, video projection room and a Photo Gallery with a specially designed lighting system that can host photographic exhibitions.

This is well worth the watch dear reader. I’m not sure what i find most funny, his spellbinding going through the motions performance (jaded rock star milking his greatest hits), the fact that he sets security on an unsuspecting fan before meekly shouting “leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeave him alone” or the classic line …

“whoever keep throwing the glasses… will you just do me a favour and GO HOME”

Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ramadhan comes at a very poignant time for people in Dubai, Muslim or not it is a chance to  stop and think about what is really important in life. The world maybe going through economic meltdown and Dubai maybe feeling the pinch the worst right now, but there is surely more to life.  Something beyond being the biggest , the best , the tallest , the fastest selling or the simple the richest. There has to be more beyond a Sunday to Thursday 9 to 5 and a Friday brunch of the closest thing to binge drinking that you will find in Dubai.

There is also more to life then just starving yourself all day and chilling at some 5 star Iftar at the end of the day and later heading off for some Shisha. Ramadhan is about self reflection for the Muslim , about finding your demons and killing them dead for good, it is about self improvement and being stronger at the end of it all.

So as we  all tuck into our last lunches before the big day tomorrow remember Ramadhan is one month which adds sanity to the seemingly insane world of Dubai, it brings men (and women) from their penthouses and puts them on down to the floor with the construction workers. So if we learn nothing else this Ramadhan let us learn some humility.  I for know where I would rather have my Iftars , at a labour camp or some Five star party I have never really been a fan of stars.

The photo above is from flickr