Morning:
6°c
Residents in Dubai have grown accustomed to mega projects coming with mega delays. During the boom times, a year or even two behind schedule was normal. Invariably, developers blamed soaring demand for men and machines for the setbacks.
But with prices of flats and offices rising almost each day of the postponement, off-plan customers just shrugged shoulders and watched their (paper) profits rise.
None of this explains a new delay to the most "mega" project of them all - the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai. It was due to open in September, but developer Emaar conceded this week that it will open later in the year. Newspaper reports suggest December.
Why the setback now, when cranes and carpenters are lying idle, crying out for work? Emaar gave little away in a statement to journalists, simply confirming that it will open this year. The company website has no mention of it.
While conspiracy theories abound in bars and coffee shops, the reality is probably a little mundane. The project is clearly almost finished (I live just a couple of hundred yards from it) although a few windows still need to be installed at the top. Friends in the construction industry tell me that simply taking down cranes from such a lofty height - more than 800 metres - takes time. After all, it's never been done before.
Still, that will come as scant consolation to investors who have bought apartments in the tower. Prices have dropped by 50% since the peak last summer, according to real estate broker Sherwoods.
Oil-rich Abu Dhabi has boosted its green energy credentials still further by increasing its stake in electric-car company Tesla. State-backed investment fund Aabar has bought 40% of the shares owned by Daimler. Tesla makes electric sports cars that retail for about £90,000 in the UK. Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi won the right to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Labourers have been allowed back into a shopping mall in the prosperous desert city of Al Ain. Last week, I wrote that Al Bawadi Mall caused a scandal by banning low-paid immigrant workers from the mall at weekends. Managers have reversed that ruling, although security guards have been told to crack down on anti-social behaviour - particularly staring at women in dress shops.
