DUBAI // A 20-kilometre extension of the Green Line to Academic City is under consideration to serve the thousands of students and staff in its colleges and institutions.
Transport authorities will decide by the end of the year whether to put the extension to the campus, about 7km southeast of the Emirates Road-E66 junction, on the drawing board. The study, which will take two months to complete, ties in with a master plan to review all RTA projects in Dubai.
Students and administrators welcomed news that the new line, scheduled to open in August next year, may be linked to the area. Rohit Ratnaparkhi, an engineering student from India, said current public transport options of either taking a taxi or a bus to the isolated area were either too costly or extremely inconvenient.
"We are almost completely cut off here," said Mr Ratnaparkhi, 21. "The Metro would save so much time. Any journey takes us two hours each way if we take the bus, and cabs are expensive.
"A Metro will make a big difference because so many students come here from all around Dubai and from other emirates. It's really important to have a Metro connection because 10 years down the line there will be so many more universities."
The agency has previously said a lack of nearby property development and scattered population were reasons for project postponements. Those were also the main reasons given for not opening the three remaining Red Line stations at Jebel Ali, Jebel Ali Industrial and Energy last month.
That is unlikely to be the case when it comes to the Academic City proposal. The educational facility, established in 2005, is expected to serve about 40,000 students at 40 colleges and institutions by 2015. More than two dozen schools are already in operation there. The cost of an extension to the campus was not available and the RTA said a final decision on the extension was yet to be taken.
"We cannot talk about implementing anything until we finish looking at the master plan, which will consider all the projects along with changes in development," said Abdul Redha al Hassan, the RTA rail planning and development director. "We have to restudy all that."
That failed to damp enthusiasm among educators who said the Metro would erase time and distance constraints that prevent students from choosing institutions in Academic City.
"There is a tingle of excitement that some day we're going to be connected," said Uma Prasad, the student services officer at Manipal University, which has a campus there. "Time-wise, and accessibility-wise, it will be a boon to students, faculty and the administrative staff. The Metro will mean enrolments will rise."
Other residents near the Green Line are also eagerly awaiting its launch. Janice Oly, who lives near its Al Ghubaiba station, is among those waiting to get on board.
"I look at the station every day and keep hoping the service will start before next year," said Ms Oly, an office assistant whose commute takes an hour in a private van. "I envy my colleagues who use the Metro. It's fast and convenient. They come and go as they please."
Trial runs on the Green Line have already begun and will last for six months, unlike the Red Line, where test runs were rushed through in two weeks. The RTA hopes rigorous testing will smooth over glitches that marred the Red Line opening last year, such as train delays and passengers being stranded on trains stuck between stations.
"On the Green Line it will be done better," Mr al Hassan said. "We will make test runs to integrate all the systems, to check safety."
The new line will feature the Al Ittihad station, connecting it with the Red Line. It will be the world's biggest Metro station, covering 25,000 square metres on two levels. Its two parallel tunnels will take commuters to the Khalid bin al Waleed or Al Rigga stations on the Red Line, or to Bani Yas or Salah al Din on the Green Line.
The Dh29 billion Metro will be the world's longest driverless rail system when complete. The opening of the Green Line is expected to double the number of passengers to 270,000.
Purple line in pipeline?
Metro projects that have not yet been cleared include the Purple Line and an extension of the existing Red Line to the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border.
The Purple Line would run along the Al Khail Road and connect Dubai International Airport with Al Maktoum Airport in Jebel Ali. The design for the 12km Abu Dhabi link was ready a year ago, said Abdul Redha al Hassan, the RTA director for rail planning and development.
“We have the design but we couldn’t implement it because of stoppage of development in that area,” he said. “If we built the five stations and extend the line, no one would use the stations or the line.”
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox
Price, base / as tested: Dh76,900 / Dh110,900
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
Gearbox: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: Torque: 352Nm @ 2,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.5L / 100km
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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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.”
SHAITTAN
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Fixtures
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Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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"
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
