Abu Dhabi's transport authority may revise its schedule to spend an estimated Dh300 billion (US$81.68bn) on building major roads, bridges and rail projects over the next 20 years as it awaits the latest word on the emirate's population. Abdullah al Otaiba, the chairman of the Department of Transport (DoT), said he was awaiting the findings of a study from the Urban Planning Council on population growth in the emirate.
Under its 2030 plan, which was written in 2007 before the global downturn, Abu Dhabi had forecast its population of 930,000 metropolitan residents would swell to 1.3 million by 2013 and 3.1 million by 2030. However, many conventional assumptions and economic forecasts have been upended in every region of the world as the worst economic crisis in more than 70 years has sapped credit, caused property and equity values to drop and eroded trillions of dollars in wealth.
"There is a study with the Urban Planning Council, and this revision will strongly affect the plans of the transport system in Abu Dhabi," Mr al Otaiba said. "The revisions are based on whether the population is growing more than anticipated or less than anticipated, and based on this, the schedule will be fast-tracked or delayed a little." Mr al Otaiba was responding to a question on the sidelines of the Gulf Logistics Forum yesterday in the capital about when the design consulting contract for the 130km Abu Dhabi metro would be awarded. The contract was expected to be awarded last year after the DoT reportedly narrowed the list of candidates in July.
The council is expected to conclude its population study in the next six months, Mr al Otaiba said. A spokesman for the council said: "UPC is working closely with the real estate and development community in Abu Dhabi and is currently developing a comprehensive study with an outlook on facilitating the planning and implementation phases of its stakeholders' projects up until 2013." The added focus on delivery schedules come as the Abu Dhabi Government also considers asking construction companies to take on more of a collaborative role in the financing of transport projects, called public-private partnerships.
Fully one third of the Government's estimated Dh300bn in metro, tram, high-speed rail, motorway and bridge projects outlined in the Government's 2030 plan could be financed under this method, DoT officials said last month. John Lee, the motorway and planning adviser for the DoT, said funding for transport projects coincided with those for new airports and port, power, water and sewerage facilities and nuclear reactors.
"If we can get the private sector to come up with capital, whether from equity or loans, to build elements of the plan, it is going to be very attractive for the Government because it results in a shifting in expenditures from the government purse to the future," Mr Lee said at a conference. "So PPPs [public-private partnerships] are going to be something we look at." A PPP is typically structured with a builder sharing the price of an infrastructure project by paying the upfront costs of construction.
The government client then pays for the project incrementally over the life of the assets, which can be between 25 and 30 years in the case of a motorway. This relieves the government of coming up with the entire capital costs of the project at the outset and gives the contractors an incentive to finish on time and on budget. @Email:igale@thenational.ae
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
RESULT
Aston Villa 1
Samatta (41')
Manchester City 2
Aguero (20')
Rodri (30')
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Ballon d’Or shortlists
Men
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)
Women
Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
