Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ABUDHABI920
2008-08-14 13:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

ABU DHABI MEGA PROJECTS: A CITY'S EVOLVING IDENTITY

Tags:  ECON EINV ETRD EIND SENV PGOV AE US 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0493
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHAD #0920/01 2271343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141343Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1330
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 7898
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000920 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP BMASILKO, NEA/PI, NEA/PPD
ALSO FOR OES, EEB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD EIND SENV PGOV AE US
SUBJECT: ABU DHABI MEGA PROJECTS: A CITY'S EVOLVING IDENTITY

REF: A) Dubai 271, B) Dubai 272

ABU DHABI 00000920 001.2 OF 002


SUMMARY
-------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000920

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP BMASILKO, NEA/PI, NEA/PPD
ALSO FOR OES, EEB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD EIND SENV PGOV AE US
SUBJECT: ABU DHABI MEGA PROJECTS: A CITY'S EVOLVING IDENTITY

REF: A) Dubai 271, B) Dubai 272

ABU DHABI 00000920 001.2 OF 002


SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) The UAE capital and the richest of the seven emirates, Abu
Dhabi accounts for approximately 9% of the world's oil reserves. In
the last few years, Abu Dhabi has undertaken a "catch up game" with
Dubai in the area of Mega Project development, with a number of
large-scale projects under way, billions of dollars invested, and
uncertainty as to the viability, sustainability, and social
implications of the projects. While Abu Dhabi is a relatively
quiet, potentially elegant coastal city with lush landscaping and an
orderly layout (in comparison to Dubai's more boisterous, congested,
random expansion amid heavy construction on all sides),the Mega
Project bandwagon may drastically change the Abu Dhabi allure and
ambience. This is the first of a series of planned cables related
to on-going project development in Abu Dhabi. Subsequent cables
will explore specific projects, analyze forces and persons behind
the development, and examine in greater depth the socio-economic
implications of Mega Project development. End summary.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ABU DHABI
--------------


2. (U) The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, by far the largest of the UAE's
seven emirates, is comprised of extensive desert lands and
approximately 200 coastal islands in close proximity to the
mainland. The capital city of Abu Dhabi is built on an island, with
two bridges connecting it to the mainland (a third under
construction and others under discussion). The late Sheikh Zayed,
founding father of the UAE, put great effort into laying out and
landscaping thoroughfares, creating public parks, and building
modest high rises on a sandy island that had virtually no
significant development in the pre-oil years. By the 1980's, Abu
Dhabi had an established skyline, expanded in the 1990's and beyond
with an extended waterfront, a smattering of higher buildings, a

large mall on reclaimed land connected by a causeway, home-grown
universities, royal estates on select waterfront properties, and
extensive housing developments in the mainland "suburbs."


3. (U) At some point in this development, a pleasant city began to
show signs of excessive growth. The breakdown of orderly parking in
the downtown area was one sign of poor planning as the city grew
beyond its natural "carrying capacity." The housing shortage has
been intense in recent years as ambitions of oil-boom construction
outstrip infrastructure. The (literally) palatial Emirates Palace
Hotel, built at a cost of $2 billion, opened in spring 2005 to host
the December GCC Summit and is lavishly appointed beyond anything
commercially viable. Its opening marked the "arrival" of Abu Dhabi
as a competitor to the more glitzy Dubai. Its opulence helps define
the "new" Gulf identity. (Visitors are informed that everything in
the Emirates Palace Hotel that looks gold is gold.) More hotels, an
expanded Exhibition Center, and ambitious business minds solidified
Abu Dhabi's role as a convention capital of the region -- along with
Dubai -- filling hotel rooms often to over capacity.


4. (SBU) Yet, this is only the beginning. The bigger dreamers are
just getting started. Oil money is flowingand the more traditional
approach of Sheikh Zayed (who died in November 2004) has given way
to a construction free-for-all (including the cutting of many of the
trees that Zayed nurtured so carefully). The elite want to
consolidate fortunes amid uncertainty over future oil prices, and
UAE society is getting a taste of the "Emirates Palace" life style
as a new standard of living (and expectation). Driven by economic
excitement, "Abu Dhabi 2030" is an ambitious plan of zoning and
development with schematics that show a glistening future city on
land that is still open desert. The Abu Dhabi of 15 years hence
will no doubt be a fascinating contrast to the UAE capital of today,
which is already a far cry from the modern but tranquil Abu Dhabi of
15 years ago. A synopsis of some of the more ambitious projects
under development follows. Subsequent cable will describe the
projects in more detail.

AMBITION ON PARADE
--------------


5. (SBU) As Abu Dhabi's ambitions expand, significant projects
under way include the following:

--- Yas Island is focused on entertainment on the outskirts of Abu
Dhabi with theme parks, a Formula-1 track, golf, marinas, and
residential zones. With an estimated price tag of $40 billion and a
near-term goal of hosting a Formula-1 race in October 2009, the
project is under huge pressure to perform.

--- Saadiyat Island, a cultural zone just a bridge away from
downtown Abu Dhabi, will feature a series of upscale museums

ABU DHABI 00000920 002.2 OF 002


(Guggenheim, Louvre, Maritime, and National Heritage museums),along
with performing arts centers and other cultural and recreational
offerings. Environmentally friendly residential areas, marinas,
wetlands, and lagoons (interspersed with the western pleasures of
golf and other sports) will round out the $30 billion project.
Highways and bridges will expand access points to Abu Dhabi.

--- Lulu Island is a prominent (largely man-made) sandbar within
view of the Abu Dhabi Corniche (the city's main waterfront and focal
point of its skyline). A vision of turning Lulu into an amusement
park, as well as talk of commercial, residential, cultural and
recreational facilities, has been circulating for years. Plans at
present involve $11 billion worth of holiday-zone development.

--- Al Raha Beach is known to many as a development on the way to
Dubai, but is now a field of construction cranes. The vision of 11
different "districts" with up to 120,000 residents is well under way
in this $15 billion dream.

--- The Cleveland Clinic has been engaged by the Emirate of Abu
Dhabi to design and staff a full-service clinic-hospital (at
undisclosed cost) to provide an overseas standard of treatment to
UAE national and international patients. With state-of-the-art,
world-class amenities, 360 beds and 2.5 million square feet, the
envisioned hospital even boasts an energy-efficient design. (For
more than a year a team from the Cleveland Clinic has administered
Abu Dhabi's premier existing health care facility, the Sheikh
Khalifa Medical Center.)

--- Masdar City proposes to house over 50,000 residents and numerous
technological research and development facilities in a "magnet city"
for alternative energy research that will itself produce zero carbon
emissions. The 100% environmentally friendly theme will challenge
the consumer culture of the Emirates, yet hopes to enhance the
world's energy options for a mere $22 billion initial investment.

--- Peaceful Nuclear Power development, with a price tag of at least
$15 billion, is also under way under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi
Executive Affairs Authority (which will pass the project to a
spin-off agency once construction begins),with a goal of ensuring
reliable power to light up the many development schemes of this
ambitious nation.


6. (SBU) Comment: These Mega Projects will consume enormous
outlays of financial resources and human capital even when taken
individually. When viewed as a whole, and in the context of "Abu
Dhabi 2030" plans, they represent the increasingly turbo-charged
nature of Abu Dhabi development in a small, immensely affluent Gulf
nation which feels it is coming into its own in an "Arabian
Renaissance." Ambitions are fed by petrol dollars in this oil-rich
emirate, and some recalibration should be expected if oil prices
fluctuate. Aggressive project timelines over the next five to ten
years also put great pressure on a limited population base, and some
adjustment of deadlines can be anticipated as reality sets in and
performance standards become apparent. Nonetheless, for now the
dreams are many and the possibilities are perceived by key UAE
players as almost limitless. Embassy will take a sober look at the
potential impact of Abu Dhabi Mega Projects in subsequent messages.
End comment.
QUINN