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The environmental impact of buildings has become a priority in the Middle East region, as construction projects are responsible for 50% of carbon emissions, largely contributing to global warming.

It is crucial to further implement sustainable and eco-friendly solutions, such as green buildings. According to studies conducted by Dubai Municipality, a green building on average saves between 30% to 40% of electricity and water as compared to standard buildings.

For two years, a growing number of UAE initiatives have been taken to encourage developers to build green. Also, Arab nations are expected to spend US$120 billion on new power projects by 2012 to respond to the rising needs in water and electricity, pushing governments to redirect their focus on renewable energy.

With so many changes on their way, developers, architects, construction and technologies companies and power plants need to get a better understanding of the importance of the new green building regulations and their implementation processes as well as to identify the opportunities of using renewable energy.

In this context, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is hosting an exclusive conference program at the 11th Water Technology, Energy and Environment Exhibition 2009 (WETEX) to help senior management executives in the water, energy and environment sectors meet renowned industry experts, discuss and debate key issues, including green building and environmentally-friendly technologies, renewable energy, wastewater reuse and the future of the industry in the Middle East region.

DEWA has appointed naseba as the official organizer of the WETEX conference, as part of WETEX exhibition, taking place on March 30th-31st, 2009 at the Dubai World Trade Center in Za’abeel Hall. The decision follows DEWA’s successful endorsement of the Global Water Management Congress 2008, organized by naseba, an international business information company with extensive experience in producing, promoting and hosting high-profile conferences and congresses around the world.

His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al-Tayer, CEO and Managing Director of DEWA officially opened the Global Water Management Congress 2008 and appreciated the professional organization and the high quality of the event conference agenda. His Excellency explained: “DEWA is pleased to further develop its partnership with naseba. Together, we are launching a new conference program at WETEX 2009. DEWA is confident that naseba participation in organizing the conference will add significant value to the event.

”WETEX 2009 is set to become the ideal platform for regional and international water, energy, electricity professionals to not only network and access the latest technology and management solutions but also to discuss the recent and most urgent challenges in energy conservation, water ‘&’ electricity with the best industry experts,said Fabien Faure, naseba group managing director” “We are proud to work with DEWA and highly appreciate their trust in naseba. We are delighted to bring a new dimension to the WETEX exhibition by incorporating this exciting conference program for high-level decision makers to its 11th edition, ” he added.

WETEX 2009 is an important regional resourcing platform for national and international companies to access a wide range of the latest technology and management solutions. This event also provides an avenue for industry leaders to keep abreast of the latest Gulf region developments in the fields of water, energy and environment, as well as to network and connect with strategic partners to pursue innovative solutions.

Abu Dhabi Oil Refinery Company (Takreer) is working on a cost estimate to expand its 400,000 barrel-a-day Ruwais refinery and expects to start issuing tenders for the work in June.

Takreer is carrying out initial design and engineering work that is expected to be completed in June, General Manager Jasem Ali Al Sayegh said at a conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Contracts are set to be awarded by the end of this year.

The refiner plans to add 417,000 barrels a day of capacity at the Ruwais refinery and is working on doubling capacity at a 600-megawatt power plant at the facility.

Takreer is going ahead with all its expansion projects as construction and engineering costs have fallen by about 30 per cent to 40 per cent from their peak in recent years, Al Sayegh said.

Takreer is hoping falls in commodity and raw material prices will cut its cost base on new projects by up to 40 per cent.

But the company has no plans to cut either spending or projects due to the lower oil price or tight credit markets, Sayegh said.

“We are proceeding with projects as planned and on schedule,” Sayegh said.

“All our projects are self-financed and fully secured… In fact, we see opportunities in the current environment to save 30 per cent to 40 per cent on proposed capital costs.”

Knpc cancels letters of intent

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) yesterday said its new refinery project was still on but letters of intent, or LoIs, signed with contractors last year had been cancelled.

“The project is still standing. The LoIs have been terminated,” Abdulla Fahad Shabeeb Al Ajmi, who heads KNPC’s Clean Fuels Project 2020 that aims at upgrading two existing refineries in Kuwait, told the 10th Middle East Refining Conference in Abu Dhabi.

The fate of the $15 billion (Dh55.5bn) refinery project was in doubt after the former prime minister of the oil-rich Gulf state ordered its cancellation last week. On Friday, national refiner KNPC informed contractors that it had cancelled the letters of intent signed last year with the South Korean, Japanese and US companies for different construction packages.

The project will now be re-evaluated by the Supreme Petroleum Council, which oversees Kuwait’s oil interests, taking into consideration a report drawn up on the project by the State Audit Bureau, the accounting watchdog, Al Ajmi said.

“The project will eventually have to prove itself in terms of feasibility,” he said, adding that the report also observed “uncertainty on the solicitation of EPC, or engineering, procurement and construction, services”.

The project came under scrutiny after opposition members of parliament alleged that KNPC’s contract awards did not comply with the tender procedures.

The global economic slowdown has hit industries ranging from automakers to investment banks, but in one small town on India’s western coast, business is at record levels and workers can hardly keep up with demand.

In Alang, home to the world’s largest ship-breaking facility on the coast of Gujarat state, the financial year to April will be one of its best ever, as a slowdown in global trade and lower freight rates mean ships are being scrapped faster.

But there is a flip side. Activists fret that the booming business will encourage a disregard for safety and environment guidelines, which they say ship breakers are already flouting.

Stretched along the 11km coastline, beached oil tankers and cargo carriers lie in various stages of disembowelment. Peculiar tide patterns that brings high tide in only twice a month enable the beaching of ships right up to the yards.

Men in blue overalls and hard hats, operating cranes, wielding blowtorches, hacksaws and hammers swarm over the beached ships, many condemned to a premature end because of the slowdown.

“Idle ships are a huge financial burden, so ship owners don’t have any option but to get rid of their ships, even if it means scrapping them years ahead of schedule,” said Vishnu Kumar Gupta, joint secretary at the Alang Ship Breakers Association.

Alang has received more than 125 ships in the past three months alone, compared to 136 ships in all of 2007 and 2008, Gupta said. Ship breakers expect this year’s total to hit 250, making it among the best years ever.

“In the past five to six years of the boom, very few ships were scrapped and we were working on zero margins as there was intense competition for the few ships that were coming in,” Gupta said.

Bathtubs

Ships were once either sunk or taken apart in the countries where they were built, before high costs and environmental restrictions drove ship-breaking efforts elsewhere.

India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh carry out 80 per cent of the world’s ship breaking business.

Labour activists say this is largely because of cheap labour costs and lax safety standards that fail to protect workers who are exposed to toxic chemicals as they dismantle the scrapped vessels.

About 150-200 workers can break down a 10,000-tonne ship in three months, salvaging nearly every part.

The road to Alang is lined with sheds selling doors, tables, sofas, kitchen ranges, crockery, bathtubs, air-conditioners and sheets of steel, the most precious commodity.

But the economic slowdown has cut into profits, hitting breaking charges and scrap values. About 80 per cent of a ship’s steel is “reusable”, Gupta said, cheaper than primary steel and used mostly in construction.

With a property slump from the global recession, demand for steel has fallen and prices have dropped by 80 per cent since mid-2008 when steel along with other commodities were enjoying record highs.

Nevertheless, profits from the booming demand for ship-breaking services have turned the businessmen, who lease the yards, into millionaires.

At the same time, the workers who earn only a few dollars a day, face health hazards as they cut up the hulls of ships, navigating through razor sharp pieces of steel, and being exposed to carcinogens and even radioactive materials from the former cargoes of these ships.

“These are the most vulnerable of workers, working in extremely dangerous conditions with little protection or recourse to proper care,” said Gopal Krishna, of Toxics Watch in New Delhi.

“The ship breakers claim conditions have improved, but there is no documentation, and no means of verification,” he said.

Dirty and dangerous

Alang was at the centre of a global controversy when ageing French aircraft carrier Clemenceau set sail for its yards in December 2005 because of the presence of many toxins including mercury, lead and asbestos.

Greenpeace protested and India’s Supreme Court halted the ship’s access to Alang in January, forcing Clemenceau to return to France. It will now be broken at a special yard in the United Kingdom.

While several international protocols check the movement of toxic materials and ensure worker safety, activists say recyclers have not signed up, or do not follow the guidelines.

“By any standards, the demolition of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation,” the International Labour Organisation said in a report, which estimates India’s ship-breaking and recycling industries directly and indirectly employ half a million people.

“The feasibility of ship breaking is largely determined by the price of scrap metal. The race is to find countries where occupational health and safety standards are not enforced.”

Increased competition is driving workers’ wages lower and the prices of recycled materials are also expected to fall, the ILO report noted, but there is also greater pressure on ship breakers to implement stricter safety and environmental measures.

Gupta, of the Alang Ship Breakers Association, says safety guidelines are adhered to, and that workers earn about 300 rupees ($5.80) a day, well above the minimum wage.

There are modern hazardous waste management facilities, he said, and a new code will soon be adopted that is being formulated by the ILO and the United Nation’s International Maritime Organisation.

Krishna, of non-governmental organisation Toxics Watch, was less sanguine about prospects for Alang.

“Yes, they may break more ships, but I have no hope that conditions for workers or the environment will improve.”

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange jumped sharply yesterday and broke through its neckline resistance at 2,445 within a few minutes of the start of trading.

The index added 108.98 points, or 4.49 per cent, to close at 2,533.78. Most active stocks rallied by almost their up limits during the session.

Telecommunications, real estate and energy stocks including Etisalat, Aldar, Sorouh, Aabar, Dana and Taqa dominated trading.

Heavyweight Etisalat added eight per cent to close at Dh13.50. Aldar added 9.6 per cent to reach Dh2.75 after breaking through resistance at Dh2.48. The stock is heading towards its resistance level between Dh3 and Dh3.25.

Sorouh jumped to Dh 2.57, adding 8.12 per cent. Taqa, Dana and Aabar advanced by 5.59, 3.33, and 2.73 per cent respectively.

However turnover during the session remained low as 164.5 million shares changed hands at a total value of Dh267.1 million.

The rally in the ADX was in line with the regional and global trend as the majority of world markets advanced.

All GCC markets except the Kuwait Securities Exchange rallied on the positive sentiment. The ADX advanced the most among its GCC peers, while the Dubai Financial Market was the second biggest gainer.

Analysts highlighted the rally in the real estate and energy sectors as the main factor behind the jump in the ADX index.

“There is active trading in these stocks due to the high liquidity in them compared to other listed stocks on the market,” said Abdul Hakim Jamil, Trading Manager at Al Borouj Stocks.

“Several pieces of news moved the two sectors including the positive outlook for the property market in Abu Dhabi and the increasing oil price.

“There is some kind of correlation among those stocks as we notice that when Aldar advances Sorouh follows during the next session. This pattern is repeated among energy stocks including Aabar, Dana and Taqa. They are attracting some speculation due to the movements in their prices.”

Jamil added that local investment groups were injecting liquidity into the market and targeting selected stocks, but at a slow pace.

“This explains the high jump in the ADX index on low turnover. The rally in the market was not encouraging for investors who are focusing on short-term profit booking. They focused their investments yesterday in the DFM which is witnessing high volatility and giving more opportunities for quick profit booking.”

Jamil said some investors were worried about the market’s ability to sustain the rally.

“There are expectations that stocks markets will retreat next month and investors are preferring to enter the markets during the current bounce for short-term movements.”

Etisalat rises 8%

Heavyweight Etisalat was among the top risers on the ADX as it added eight per cent to close at Dh13.50. The stock was last traded at Dh13.65, indicating a bullish trend in the short term.

The active trading in Etisalat came after the company increased its bonus shares for the second half of 2008 to 20 per cent from 10 per cent during its general assembly meeting on Monday.

Nakheel said its retail unit had delayed by 12 months its $3 billion (Dh11bn) mall expansion plans.

“Design work and site preparation for Nakheel Retails expansion plans has been delayed for 12 months,” it said yesterday.

“We have the responsibility to adjust our short-term business plans to accommodate the current global environment; our short-term business model is aligned to meet market demand,” it said.

The property firm said in April last year it would develop five shopping malls in the UAE at a cost of $3bn.

Earlier, Myer, Australia’s largest department store chain, said any expansion into Dubai was on hold as Nakheel, its partner, had postponed building the centres Myer would have entered.

Inflation in Dubai will plunge from 14 per cent in 2007 to six to eight per cent this year, and despite the impact of the financial crisis, the emirate’s GDP will still grow by two to four per cent, a senior Dubai official said yesterday.

“According to government sources, inflation would drop to six to eight per cent but our research institute is also citing a Standard Chartered report stating that inflation could fall to as low as two per cent in 2009, that is yet to be seen,” Hisham Abdullah Al Shirawi, Second Vice-Chairman of Dubai Chamber, told Emirates Business on the sidelines of the Arab Investment Forum yesterday.

Standard Chartered earlier this month said the UAE inflation could drop to around two per cent this year as rents and commodity prices ease and liquidity dries up.

UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, on the other hand, put inflation estimate for the year in the range of five to eight per cent.

The deflation is in line with the authority’s expectations. “Definitely, certain prices have to come down,” he said. “The supply side will continue but prices will come down especially in the real estate sector due to the drop in demand.”

“The lack of financing resources available in certain sectors will also reduce demand to an extent. Reduction in demand and continuation of supply will see fall in prices,” he said.

He said Dubai’s economy remains strong thanks to the various measures undertaken.

On whether de-pegging remains an issue, he said: “De-pegging is wishful thinking. It’s a sovereign decision. We are tied up with the local, regional and international agreements, which we can’t nullify by a single decision. And any single decision that the government will undertake will be in co-ordination and consultation with the rest of the GCC states.”

Facebook’s redesign is getting an emphatic thumbs down from the notoriously change-wary users of the social network.
Ninety-four per cent of the nearly 800,000 Facebook users who have voted in a poll on the site said they do not like the changes rolled out in the past two weeks. Only six percent said they approve the redesign.

Among those writing comments alongside the poll, user Nik McCarthy said the change “Pretty much sucks. Better before.” “I was still figuring it out and it changed,” said Melissa Reed, and user Mark Wysocki wrote that the design was too cluttered, with “way too much information.” “Bring back the old style,” he urged. “Hard to navigate,” said Chanel Chartrand. “Really don’t like it.”

Mara Soriano was among the minority who liked the changes. “I think it’s fantastic,” she wrote.

As TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington wrote, Facebook maybe should have heeded the old saw: “Don’t ask a question you don’t want the answer to.”

Changes to the home page include making the status update question “What’s on your mind?” adding real-time Twitter-like chatter and tools that let people organize and filter messages or updates from those listed as “friends.”

The fast-growing Facebook boasts more than 175 million members and founder Mark Zuckerberg believes the number will reach 200 million by the end of this year.

Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler, inaugurated yesterday a branch of the Moroccan Hospital and Eye Clinic at the Dubai Medical City (DMC).

The Dh20 million hospital is part of a network of the Saudi Arabian company, comprising 32 hospitals in the Middle East.

Sheikh Maktoum toured the various sections of the hospital and was briefed by the hospital director about the facility.

Sheikh Maktoum welcomed the company in Dubai. He said such an investment was a step in spreading healthcare services in the region, adding that having the hospital along with others at the DMC will further improve eye care services in the country.

He thanked the owners, administrators and medical team of the Saudi Company for their efforts.

President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, received Singaporean President Sellapan Ramanathan and his accompanying delegation at Za’abeel Palace yesterday.

The meeting was attended by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler, and Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

They discussed developments in light of the global financial crisis, as well as ways of overcoming the economic turmoil through collective international efforts. New bilateral partnerships in the fields of technology, science and economy were also discussed.

Sheikh Mohammed hosted a luncheon banquet in honour of his guests.

Present at the banquet were Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation and CEO of Emirates Group Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Director-General of the Dubai Department of Information Sheikh Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, senior officials, and heads of government departments and institutions.

The President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, held talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh at Al Mushref Palace yesterday.

Sheikh Khalifa welcomed Saleh and his entourage and wished him and the Yemeni people more progress and prosperity. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen co-operation between their countries in various areas for mutual benefit of their peoples.

They reviewed fraternal ties and joint co-operation between the countries and ways to boost them.

They shared views on latest developments in the region, the Arab and international scenes.

Saleh expressed happiness on his visit to the UAE and his meeting with Sheikh Khalifa. He also expressed deep appreciation on the positive role being played by the UAE at the regional and international levels to boost security, stability and development in the region.

He praised the UAE for its continuous support for the Yemeni people in development and humanitarian areas and expressed gratitude for the warm reception accorded him and his entourage.

Sheikh Khalifa later held a luncheon in honour of the Yemeni President and his entourage, which was attended sheikhs, ministers and senior officials.