Dealing with the boom in the Gulf region
think: act CONTENT
2006
"We have to make history"
The words “The world has a new center” adorn a gigantic construction site fence in the middle of Dubai. Behind the fence, Dubai Mall, slated to become the world’s largest shopping center, is taking shape. Meanwhile, Dubai World Central is the name earmarked for a major new airport that is to handle around 120 million passengers a year by 2050 – the combined capacity of London Heathrow and Chicago O'Hare.
In announcing the project for the new mega-airport, Dubai’s Prime Minister, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, leaves no room for doubt about his intention to do great things in his home country: “We have to make history and approach the future with steady steps, not wait for the future to come to us,” he declares.
Al-Maktoum’s aim is to make his desert state the center of the modern world. And he is by no means alone. Barely a week passes by without some country in the Gulf region announcing yet another new mega-project. Right now, the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are investing more than USD 600 billion in total. Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy in the region, is making huge advances in its quest to become a global economic power. The “King Abdullah Economic City” project alone, for example, is supposed to generate 500,000 new jobs.
As the people in charge have realized, however, this almost fairy-tale story of growth and success now has to be placed on a sustainable foundation. Saeed al Muntafiq, CEO of the Tatweer development company, recently compared Dubai to a growing young lad: “It’s hungry, eats seven meals a day, runs around for 17 hours a day bouncing off the wall full of energy”.
As this growth phase unfolds, tremendous opportunities are emerging for those foreign companies that astutely leverage the peculiarities of the widely varying markets in this region. As economic development advances in leaps and bounds, the governments of the individual GCC states have, in some cases, heralded a contest within the region. Nothing less than the top global positions are the issue at stake.
