Singing Pig

Gordon Ramsay plots fulltime move to Dubai




on Monday, 12 May 2008
DUBAI MOVE: Ramsay, pictured, said he plans to move to Dubai for good once he has conquered the restaurant scenes in Paris, New York and London. (Getty Images)Britain's best-known celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has announced he plans to move to Dubai permanently once he has conquered the restaurant scenes in Paris, New York and London.

"By the time I'm 45, my plan is to score three [Michelin] stars in Paris, three in New York and three in London - and then I'm going to move to Dubai fulltime," Ramsay said in an interview with magazine Time Out Dubai.

"I'm looking at a plot on one of the Palm's branches. It's a beautiful five-bedroom apartment. Mum's in her early 60s and she loves it out here as do the kids."
The move to Dubai, which has a zero income tax economy, might be appealing to Ramsay for more than just the sunshine and the beaches. The Sunday Times Rich List says the chef is currently worth 50 million British pounds ($100 million), earned from restaurants, television appearances and book sales.

Ramsay already owns one fine dining restaurant in Dubai, and says he is planning to grow his business interests in the city with the opening of a gastro pub, a bistro and a catering school.

Circus in the sand



In 2011 Dubai will open a permanent Cirque du Soleil acrobatic show in the heart of The Palm Jumeirah and those involved say the city could have five or more such shows in the future.

The creation of this permanent Cirque du Soleil event will see the UAE take a giant leap forward in terms of world-class attractions and firmly place it on the world's entertainment stage.

And, with Dubai's tourism industry set to grow by eight per cent in 2008 – according to the research organisation Globalysis – plans are also in place to create a number of theme parks in Dubailand to the west of the airport.

All this, experts say, is what will keep the tourism drive on course and give the projected 15 million visitors to the emirate by 2015 plenty of attractions to visit.

Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing's executive director media relations division and acting director of business development, says these developments will transform the city. "We are one of the most exposed cities in the world and we are currently booming," he says.

"We have to promote Dubai accordingly and promote the new things. With Cirque du Soleil and Dubailand we are providing the visitor with some very amazing attractions." A total of 6.9 million visitors checked into hotels in Dubai in 2007, up from 6.4 million the previous year, which accounted for a revenue of $3 billion (Dh11bn).

As part of the Cirque du Soleil project, a 1,800-seat theatre will be built on the Palm Mall complex at the tip of Nakheel's manmade island, which will host 400 of the world-famous performances each year. This could see a potential 720,000 visitors per year if all the shows were to sell out. Last year, the first Cirque du Soleil touring show was staged in Dubai with organisers recording visitor figures of 100,000.

The Quidam show saw acrobats perform almost impossible feats of balancing, juggling and mid-air manoeuvres from swings all under the grand chapiteau or big top. This six-week show subsequently led to a 15-year deal with Nakheel for a permanent attraction.

"When we came to Dubai four years ago we had heard about The Palm Jumeirah. We asked whether we could have a permanent show and [Nakheel] said maybe," says Mario D'Amico, senior vice-president of marketing, Cirque du Soleil.

"We then tested the market with a touring show last year, which was a tremendous success and three months later we had agreed a deal. Things move quickly in Dubai." Cirque du Soleil – which means circus in the sun – was set up in 1984 and has wowed 60 million spectators in more than 100 countries around the world.

The company has 3,500 employees from more than 40 countries with 15 shows around the world with an estimated annual revenue exceeding $600 million.

A team of 90 performers and 150 technical staff will eventually become Dubai residents and keep the 24-year-old tradition of Cirque du Soleil moving forward and officials from the Canada-based show are not counting out more permanent shows in the future.

"We have five in Las Vegas and are about to open another two, so why not have more in Dubai," says D'Amico. "There is a need in Dubai for these kind of attractions and we are fulfiling this need with a high-end international event." As well as the Las Vegas shows there is a permanent show in Orlando, Florida, with two more opening at the end of the year in Asia's Macau and Tokyo.

However, all these performances are held in hotel chains or exhibition centres, whereas the Subai show will be in a specially built venue.

Before the permanent show opens residents and visitors to Dubai will get the chance to see another touring show that was announced at this month's Arabian Travel Market. Algeria, one of Cirque du Soleil's longest-running act, will have its final performances in Dubai over a four-week period beginning in March next year.

The show takes its name from the Spanish word for joy and jubilation and is a baroque and operatic production. Richard Lee, executive director of investment projects at Nakheel, says to have Cirque du Soleil on board the Palm was in line with the company's commitment to bring world-class attractions to Dubai.

"Dubai is a major tourism hub and it's great for us to be able to encourage people to stay longer in the city when they visit. "People will plan their holidays around the Cirque du Soleil show and we have made it easy for them to obtain tickets," he adds. "They can buy tickets online anywhere in the world and choose their seats."

As for the permanent show, piling has already started on The Palm Jumeirah and organisers in Canada are now brainstorming to come up with a unique theme for the show.

"We are already in the process of casting, which is all part of the 36-month process from the day we decided we were going move to Dubai to the show's opening day," adds D'Amico. "This is a great opportunity for all of us. The Palm is a fantastic destination and it is what attracted us to Dubai and our location on the Palm is tremendous."

The Palm Mall will have one million square foot of retail, dining and entertainment space with Cirque du Soleil as its main attraction.



The numbers

5: The number of permanent Cirque du Soleil shows that Dubai could have

400: Expected shows per year at the region's first permanent Cirque du Soleil in Dubai

1,800: Seats at the new purpose-built theatre currently under construction at The Palm Jumeirah

720,000: Visitors per year if all shows are sold out at the Palm Mall theatre

Master plan ready for Oqyana World



on Tuesday, May 20, 2008



Oqyana Development Company, a Kuwaiti joint venture launched by Investment Dar and Efad Holding, has unveiled the final master plan for its maiden project. The Dh18.35 billion Oqyana World First development off the coast of Dubai will comprise 22 islands in the Australia and New Zealand portions of Nakheel's iconic project The World.

"Half of our development budget will be eaten up by infrastructure and utilities," said Oqyana Chief Executive Officer Dr Wadad Al Suwayeh.

The project will have 17km of interlinked walkways, 50,000 sq ft of shorefront and a marina with more than 1,500 private yacht berths. Construction work will commence in August and is expected to be completed by 2012. Al Suwayeh spoke to Emirates Business about the project details and the challenges.

What was the background to the creation of Oqyana?

Efad Holding and Investment Dar are two Kuwaiti companies and Efad Holding has the biggest stake in Investment Dar. The partnership called Oqyana purchased the islands in The World in 2005. The companies started out with a working capital of KWD250 million (Dh3.5 billion).

What type of project is Oqyana World First?

It is being developed as a lifestyle destination with 2,500 apartments and 200 villas plus luxury hotels. We will have five hotels – four five-star and one four-star. Efad Holding has a company called Monarch, which is likely to be one of the hotel operators, but to date no agreements have been signed. Other features include a cultural centre for the performing arts, a conference centre, leisure facilities, restaurants, cafés and specialist island lifestyle shops. The central islands will be where the retail and hotels are. None of the islands are mixed – you won't find apartments and villas on the same island. A hotel with a health spa on New South Island will be open to residents and guests. The development will occupy a total land area of 20 million square feet and a total upland area of 4.5 million square feet. The project will have 17km of interlinked walkways, 50,000 square feet of shorefront and a marina with more than 1,500 private yacht berths.

Have you started selling properties?

We have not launched sales as we are yet to finalise prices. A lot of other developers are looking to us to see what we are doing since we were the first developers to announce a project on The World.

What is the current construction status of the development?

Oqyana's group of 22 islands was 100 per cent reclaimed by October 2007 and we are at least eight months ahead of schedule. The completed land reclamation is embedded into four separate landmasses that will serve as construction platforms. Once construction is complete the sand platforms will be dredged out and used to enhance the beaches. This land formation plan was created by Oqyana to speed up development during the construction phase. Now that the islands are reclaimed Oqyana plans to begin infrastructure work in a month's time. We are expecting a complete build-out by 2012.

How are you preparing for all this development?

The mandate given to Oqyana from its partners is that we have to build a dream lifestyle development and most definitely there will be challenges and risks involved. We have taken our time on the project and studied it for the last three-and-a-half years. We are leaving nothing to chance. The biggest challenges will be infrastructure and logistics. One of the islands will accommodate only utilities for the entire development. This island is located next to the breakwater outside the main Australasian continent development. It will house a power generation plant, a reverse osmosis desalination plant, a district cooling facility, a condenser cooling plant, a sewage treatment plant, a portable water tank, a refuelling station, maintenance workshops, a fire station, administration offices and labour accommodation. This utility island has been engineered for 100 per cent redundancy, through the utilisation of two utility networks to feed the entire development. This means utility service provision will continue even in the case of a single failure point.

How much of the cost will be taken up by the provision of infrastructure?

Half of our development budget will be eaten up by infrastructure and utilities. What is interesting about Oqyana is that we have only 40 per cent site coverage in the whole development. What that means is that 60 per cent of our area will be open spaces, playground, promenades and beaches. The idea was not to clutter the development, so what we did was push the buildings towards the water to free the centres of the islands for landscaping and play areas.

Have you contracted consultants and contractors to supply the infrastructure?

We are working with our Kuwaiti counterparts regarding this. Whoever can accomplish the job with a promise of quick delivery will be contracted in the end. As regards transportation within the development, Oqyana has bought a large stake in Gulf Craft, a company that will manage limousine and water taxi services. In all there will be 2,000 boats and yachts when the project is complete. Nakheel has provided two mainland hubs within The World. Every apartment and villa will have its own parking facilities. Nakheel has slotted 5,000 car park spaces and 500 berths for Oqyana on the mainland shore.

Which consultants do you have on board?

The lead master planner and architectural consultant is Global Design Collaborative. Al Jazeera is the consultant focusing on creating the villa designs. The lead infrastructure and engineering consultant is Scott Wilson.