RAS AL KHAIMAH // People in the fishing village of Al Rams are divided only in their reactions to one question: to modernise or restore.
That question is about to be posed by RAK government representatives planning to tour the area to decide its future. At the heart of the matter are two versions of what it means to honour the past.
Some would like the buildings restored as a physical testament to history; others want the village rebuilt with modern houses so people can continue to live in Al Rams and keep their traditions alive.
“The building, it changes with time anyway,” says Ebrahim Ali, 62. “It is the place that is important.”
Al Rams, like its people, is built from the sea. Its houses tell the story of the land and its citizens: traders, pearlers, fishermen and mountain men who lived in houses built of palm, coral, seashells, Zanzibari wood, and for the privileged, mountain stone.
Most are now derelict, cluttered with litter or used as labour accommodations.
The village sits on a sliver between the sea and the mountains. Families are large and land is scarce.
The RAK Government and federal government housing programmes have given thousands of plots to Emiratis in recent years. Most are moved south of RAK city in the desert of Al Dhait, about 60km from Al Rams.
But many have refused to move so far from their ancestral land. Generations crowd into homes. For them, honouring their history means staying between sea and mountains.
“The people of Rams here are all one family,” says Ali Hasan, 40. “If you come here on the weekend you will find 50 people here sitting together, each from different families.
“None is a brother of another but we are all families.”
He points to a fishing shack painted with calligraphy that reads, "Our motto – Al Rams as one family".
"This is our vision," Mr Hasan says.
Most men in Al Rams and the north coast work in Abu Dhabi, returning to their families at weekends.
For the children who stay behind with their mothers, life in quiet Al Rams means the chance to practise the traditions of the village.
“All the men here are working in Abu Dhabi and many of their children are forgetting their past,” says Khaled Abdullah, whose family is from Rams, but who was born in Abu Dhabi.
“Al Rams people are moving from place to place but they are not coming to the place where they were born. We want this place to be a magnet for our children.”
New housing in the old town is one solution but others feel the old village must be preserved as oral history disappears.
“We work in Abu Dhabi and we see many new villas so we want the same as that. But we don’t want to delete this, our design,” Mr Hasan says.
"We don't want towers. We are looking for something that looks traditional, sometimes that is new but still Al Rams."
A partial restoration of the village could bring tourism to generate local jobs, which are rare outside of the slumping fishing industry.
The RAK Government has hired a consultant to review what can be saved and how this can be balanced with residential needs.
What happens in Al Rams could become the model for other old neighbourhoods, such as Maaridh and Old RAK. The problems faced there are the same as those faced across the north coast and in the mountainous regions to the south.
The Government continues to find new places to build: against the mountains near Dhaya Rams, on reclaimed land in Maaridh and into the desert.
“Most of the planning is in Al Dhait and there is no housing in the north area, but people reject this. They don’t want to be away from their family,” says Fatima Al Shamsi, a town planning engineer with the RAK Municipality who is from Al Rams.
“If you do something without them [the residents] will not allow you to do any development in that area so we have to do what they need but walk parallel with the planning.
"At the end of the day they will live there, they know the culture, they are all looking to be in one place."
Mr Abdullah says: "I feel Al Rams it is a part of me. I cannot leave it.
“I am born in Abu Dhabi but I have something here that I cannot leave.”
azacharias@thenational.ae
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include:
- Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
- Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
- Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims by Hussein Kesvani
- Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaveni
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Fixtures
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs: Hyundai Ionic Hybrid
Price, base: Dh117,000 (estimate)
Engine: 1.6L four-cylinder, with 1.56kWh battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 105hp (engine), plus 43.5hp (battery)
Torque: 147Nm (engine), plus 170Nm (battery)
Fuel economy, combined: 3.4L / 100km
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
