A chronic shortage of electricity in the northern Emirates is a serious economic and environmental threat, a government study has found.
The National was allowed exclusive access to parts of the study, carried out over the past year by a special Federal National Council (FNC) committee.
The report paints a picture of poor planning for growth in the northern Emirates by the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA), which is responsible for providing the bulk of power there.
Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah and Umm al Qaiwain, known as the northern Emirates, lack their own electricity and water authorities and are essentially dependent on federal supplies. About 1,000 commercial buildings in the region are waiting to be hooked up to the federal power grid, including 500 in Ajman.
In many cases, building owners have been waiting months or even years for electricity.
Some have resorted to noisy, expensive and environmentally unfriendly petrol-powered generators to make their buildings inhabitable.
The side effects of generator-produced electricity has persuaded local authorities in Fujairah to significantly curtail their use.
If solutions are not found there could be serious effects, said Yousef Neaimi, an FNC member from Ras al Khaimah who has a leadership role on the committee producing the study, which will be presented to the FNC this autumn.
"When they started building all these buildings, the interest rates on loans were much lower and there was a lot of liquidity in the market," he said. "Now rates have gone up.
"And, of course, all of these buildings are financed by banks, and all of their owners are going to be hit with bad debts."
He said FEWA bore much of the responsibility, mainly because developers in the northern Emirates typically had to obtain approval before they built buildings.
"For most of these buildings, they couldn't start construction until they received approval from the electricity authority," Mr Neaimi said.
"Sadly, FEWA did not keep their promise, and a lot of building owners are now left with debts in their banks that are going bad."
Officials at FEWA could not be reached for comment.
It is not only the northern Emirates that are affected, according to Mr Neaimi. Twenty-five buildings were not connected to the grid in the Al Dhaid area, which, although part of Sharjah, was supplied by FEWA. Last week, Sharjah itself was hit by severe power cuts.
Rashed al Shariqi, another FNC member from Ras al Khaimah, said the delay in connecting housing developments in the emirates had caused hardship for low-income Emiratis.
There have been several instances in Ras al Khaimah in which villas built by the Sheikh Zayed Housing programme were left empty for several years.
Mr Shariqi also warned of environmental problems from widespread use of generators. "If this were a cost effective solution, everyone would buy generators and use them instead," he said. "But it's not. If you walk in the street and see each building with a single generator, how much noise will we get? How much pollution will we get?"
He added: "If we continue to mismanage the resources we have, if we continue to miscalculate the amount of that we currently have, the problems will fester."
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The biog
Age: 46
Number of Children: Four
Hobby: Reading history books
Loves: Sports
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
THE BIO
Age: 33
Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill
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Allardyce's management career
Clubs (10) - Limerick (1991-1992), Perston North End (1992), Blackpool (1994-1996), Notts County (1997-1999), Bolton Wanderers (1999-2007), Newcastle United (2007-2008), Blackburn Rovers (2008-2010), West Ham United (2011-2015), Sunderland (2016), Crystal Palace (2016-2017)
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The biog
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RESULTS
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5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m, Winner AF Makerah, Sean Kirrane, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m, Winner Maaly Al Reef, Brett Doyle, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,600m, Winner AF Momtaz, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m, Winner Morjanah Al Reef, Brett Doyle, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 2,200m, Winner Mudarrab, Jim Crowley, Erwan Charpy
INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
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Manchester City 3
Danilo (16'), Bernardo Silva (34'), Fernandinho (72')
Brighton & Hove Albion 1
Ulloa (20')
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium, Malayisa
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia on October 10
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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MATCH INFO
Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')
Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')
Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 285bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: TBA
On sale: Q2, 2020
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Racecard:
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
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FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
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Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
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Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Muguruza's singles career in stats
WTA titles 3
Prize money US$11,128,219 (Dh40,873,133.82)
Wins / losses 293 / 149
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
Match info
Wolves 0
Arsenal 2 (Saka 43', Lacazette 85')
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Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
MATCH INFO
FA Cup fifth round
Chelsea v Manchester United, Monday, 11.30pm (UAE), BeIN Sports
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Brief scores:
England: 290 & 346
Sri Lanka: 336 & 243
