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UAE Focus

The renovated Umm Rayool.

Update

01 April 2005

Dubai restores historic edifice
Dubai: Dubai Municipality has inaugurated one of its historic defence edifices – Umm Rayool or Umm Rayool Square – which was recently renovated.

The square-shaped, seven-pillar weapon store, where security guards used to receive their weapons upon the start of their duty, had also been used as a checkpoint where incoming and outgoing vehicles were being inspected.
The historical buildings section of the Municipality undertook the reconstruction project in a bid to give the emirate’s residents and visitors some glimpses of its glorious past.
The Umm Rayool building assumes its name from the seven pillars upon which it stands. (Rijel in Arabic means leg, Rajool or Rayool is locally used as plural of Rijel).

ABM wins Green Lakes contract
Two major contracts have been awarded for Dubai’s Green Lakes project, the first freehold real estate development from Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and chairman of Emirates. The main contract for construction has been awarded to Al Basti & Muktha (ABM) with the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works contract going to Bilt Middle East.
The 720-apartment project, to be marketed by Asam Investments & Real Estate, will be constructed by ARCH group of architects and is part of Nakheel's Jumeirah Lake Towers development. The project is scheduled for completion date in April 2007.

Al Fattan invites bids for resort
Dubai: Al Fattan Properties has invited local and international companies to submit bids for the construction of the Al Seef Hotel and Resort at The Palm, Jumeirah. The new project will cover 500,000 sq ft.
The project, designed by Ark International Engineering Consultants, will have 20 villas, 21 suites and 101 rooms.
The resort project on The Palm, Jumeirah, includes a number of restaurants, shopping centres, a health club and recreation and leisure facilities, and will offer its patrons the best levels of recreation.
It will also be characterised by its fully air-conditioned glass corridors connecting the villas with the hotel's reception and service sections. The resort will have a giant swimming pool measuring 90 m by 10 m, in addition to swimming pools attached to each villa.

Emirates Glass lands major deals
Dubai: Emirates Glass has won three major contracts to supply a massive 40,000 sq m of glass to prestigious projects coming up in Dubai, said Ziad Yazeck, sales and marketing director, Emirates Glass.
Yazeck said these contracts only serve to fortify the company's dominant position in the regional market for supplying top quality glass products. “We are privileged to be associated with some of the leading names in Dubai's real estate and construction sector,” he said.

Matsushita develops new air filter
Dubai: Panasonic said that its environment-related subsidiary, Matsushita Ecology Systems Company, has developed a revolutionary air filter that can neutralise or inactivate a variety of airborne allergens and viruses.
The company will incorporate the filter into air treatment equipment including air purifiers, humidifiers and air-conditioners to create clean and healthy indoor environments. It is also introducing new models of air-conditioners – ranging from 1 tonne to 2.5 tonne – using the air filter to key markets in the Middle East.
Claimed to be the first of its kind, the air-conditioners incorporate dual functionalities of ‘air cleaning’ courtesy the air filter and ‘air creating’ courtesy a Super Ioniser that generates rich negative ions.
The air filter features a new anti-allergen material called Super Alleru-Buster. This material (phenotic hydroxyl polymer) catches and inactivates 99 per cent of such allergens as dead dust mites and their waste products, pollen and cat dander, which ordinarily could pose great health hazards to man.

UAE moots unified building code
Dubai: The UAE is expected to approve a unified building code for the country's construction sector this year, a report said.
A set of technical proposals have been submitted to the government on unifying the building code and other construction-related activities. The goal of these submissions is to promote standardisation in line with international best practices, Imad Al Jamal, vice-chairman of the higher technical consultative committee of the UAE Contractors Association (UCA) said.

Dubai launches e-services project
Dubai: Dubai Municipality has announced a mega e-services project – titled the Building Permits and Control Application – to automate the procedure for applying and obtaining building permits in Dubai.
The new online service, aimed at contractors and consultants of building and construction projects in Dubai, will reduce the time taken to issue building permits by over 80 per cent and is in line with Dubai’s vision of strengthening its e-government initiative, by offering several services online.

New Abu Dhabi airport by 2009
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi’s new airport, which forms the second phase of the airport’s expansion plan, is expected to become operational in 2009.
The new airport will be located in the same area as the existing facility.

Snamprogetti wins $1.4bn deal
Abu Dhabi: Italian energy firm Eni has confirmed that its engineering and contracting unit Snamprogetti has been awarded a $1.43 billion contract for a natural gas liquids train project.
The contract was awarded by Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, on behalf of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Eni said. Eni said work would be completed in 38 months.

Empower to cool DHCC
Dubai: The Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) has signed an agreement to build a district cooling system (DCS) plant for the entire Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) cluster.
With a total capacity of 55,000 tonnes, DCS plant will initially cater to the first phase of DHCC, covering 4.1 million sq ft of land.
Empower’s DCS will cool water at a central plant and distribute it through a network of piping systems to DHCC’s individual buildings.
The centralised system results in reduced capital and operating costs, and simpler set-up and maintenance.
“Empower’s district cooling services will provide us many benefits including energy efficiency and economies of scale,” said DHCC chief sales and marketing officer Omar Al Shunnar.

Superior concrete in the spotlight
Dubai: The recently-concluded seminar on concrete technology – organised jointly by the UAE Society of Engineers, Elkem Materials Middle East and Arabian Trading – sought to discuss the various issues and challenges related to the use of superior concrete in the region and discussed on ways to improve the characteristics of concrete.
More than 200 engineers, concrete experts and university students including delegates from Norway, the UK, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, India, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, attended the seminar at Dubai.
Using JJ Hospital Flyover in Mumbai, India, as a case study, deputy managing director of Elkem India, Kshemendra Nath, elaborated on the benefits of high performance concrete over normal conventional concrete. Per Fidjestol, technical manager with Elkem ASA Materials, Norway, presented a paper on “Standards and Specifications” and called upon engineers to use only the latest specifications.