New decree on rent increases in Dubai

Source: WAM (Emriates Govt News Agency) abridged
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H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, today issued a decree setting the maximum allowed increase in property rent values in 2010.
For properties rented in 2009 and before, the maximum increase in rent value shall be set as per the previous relevant similar decree for 2009.
The decree approves the Real Estate Regulatory Authority's (RERA) price index which shall be followed as the reference for setting any increase in rent values in 2010.
The new decree prevents any increase in rent values as long as they are less by a maximum of 25 % than the average rents of properties of similar specifications.
The maximum allowed rental increases shall be as follows: - 5% increase if the rent value is 26% to 35% less than the average rent of properties of similar specifications.
-10% increase if the rent value is 36% to 45% less than the average rent of properties of similar specifications.
--15% increase if the rent value is 46% to 55% less than the average rent of properties of similar specifications.
--20% increase if the rent value is less by a percentage that is more than 55% of the average rent of properties of similar specifications.
The decree goes into immediate effect and shall be published in the official gazette.
The decree also defines a new formula for lower rent values which allows a proportional increase in rents for 2009. According to the new formula, the increase in property rent will rise in proportion with the drop in 2008 rent value in the average annual rent for the same property.

Even by Dubai standards, this is quite bad driving....

Photo taken 27 Dec on the UAE side of the border fence, just before Madam.

Kiwi dairy company doubles investment in Middle East

Source: Arabian Business
Photo: foodprocessing-technology.com
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Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd, the world’s biggest exporter of dairy products, said its investment in the Middle East and Africa doubled since 2006 as it seeks to tap demand for powdered milk and increase exports to the region.
Fonterra wants to boost production at a newly acquired plant from a Saudi partner as part of the Auckland, New Zealand based company’s five year expansion plan in the Middle East, said Amr Farghal, managing director of Fonterra’s Middle East, Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States businesses.
Speaking in an interview, Farghal said: “The Middle East, Africa, and CIS region accounts for around 20 percent of sales in the Asia Middle East consumer division, and it is one of our key focuses for expansion."
Fonterra reached a final agreement last week to take full ownership of Saudi New Zealand Dairy Products Co after buying a 51 percent stake from partner Saudi Dairy & Foodstuff Co for $33 million (NZ$45 million).
More than half of the production at Saudi New Zealand’s plant, which started in 1996 and processes about 30,000 metric tons of New Zealand milk a year, is exported to the Middle East including Gulf countries, Africa, and former Soviet Union countries, Farghal said.
Demand for New Zealand products will increase if a free trade agreement is reached between the country and Gulf states, Farghal said. He expects an agreement to be signed in April.
Saudi Arabia’s population is growing about 2 percent a year, increasing demand for milk powders and cheese sold by Fonterra and rivals Nestle SA, Kraft Foods Inc and Almarai Co, the kingdom’s biggest food processor.

A virtual Christmas card

Rather than writing my usual 'what we did this year' letter, I've put together a 'virtual Christmas card'.  Its better than the usual tome tucked inside the Chrimbo cards because there are no typos and it has music too. 
Best wishes to everyone who reads The Caro-Van, thanks for all the comments over the past year and I look forward to doing it all again in 2010.

أجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و حلول السنة الجديدة

The Arab Rich List 2009: The Top 10

And the winner is.......................

1 . Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud  (Saudi)
...and making up the list are:
2 . Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber (Saudi)
3 . Nasser Al Kharafi  (Kuwait)
4 . Mohammad Al Amoudi (Saudi)
5 . Nasser Al Rashid (Saudi)
6 . Al Ghurair Family (UAE)
7 . The Bin Laden Family (Saudi)
8 . The Olayan Family (Saudi)
9 . The Kanoo Family (Bahrain)
10.  Said Khoury (Lebanon)

Facebook is 'down' in the UAE

Facebook is 'down' in the UAE....again.  Nobody seems to know why.  Something to do with Iran maybe?  Anyway if you add an 's' to the url https//:www.facebook.com you'll get onto the log-in page.

Sydney Harbour plan like 'worst of Dubai'

Source: Sydney Morning Herald 22 Dec 09
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THE State Government is poised to waive planning rules so a developer can fill in part of the harbour to build the city's biggest hotel in what critics have dubbed the worst of ''Dubai architecture''.
Under the agreement negotiated by the Government's Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Lend Lease will construct a 150-metre-long peninsula extending into East Darling Harbour as a base on which to erect the 230-metre-tall hotel.
The authority's chief executive, John Tabart, also revealed that Lend Lease had been allowed to increase the floor space in the building by 15 per cent in addition to the 30 per cent rise allowed last year in an effort to make the project financially viable.
By allowing Lend Lease to build out from the existing shoreline, guests will be able to enjoy views to the Opera House.
Although the concept plan for Barangaroo does not allow reclaiming the harbour or building higher than 180 metres, the authority has approved Lend Lease's non-complying design on the grounds that it is so good it is likely to win planning approval when a development application is lodged.
Sydney has previously filled in its waterways for projects including the airport's third runway, but architects warned it was another thing to allow a developer to build a hotel in the harbour.
''There's not really any excuse for intruding on publicly owned water. The precedent that sets is not a very good one,'' said Peter Webber, a former NSW government architect and emeritus professor of architecture at the University of Sydney.
Philip Thalis, who won the original design competition on redeveloping Barangaroo, said it was ''privatising the harbour''.
''It's a catastrophic mistake for Sydney. It's like letting them do that at Circular Quay. It makes the Cahill Expressway look positively benign … It's the worst of Dubai 'look at me' architecture,'' Mr Thalis said.
But the chairman of the authority's design review panel, a former government architect, Chris Johnson, said the building had ''a good pizazz about it'', and while it was not good to fill in the harbour this was ''the exception to the rule''.
He said his approval was on the basis that the building was ''incredibly well designed and incredibly accessible to the public'', and that it should include viewing platforms and a series of other public spaces that could be ''a bit like the Ivy in George Street''.
The proposal was warmly embraced by former prime minister Paul Keating, who has fought successfully for the northern headland to be returned to its pre-settlement shape. ''The scheme is a scheme right outside the paradigm - this is what Sydney needs,'' he said. ''It needs to be grand to do the job.
''What Lord [Richard] Rogers [the architect] has offered is a fan structure that breaks the geometry of the grid and which has at its foot a hotel as an exclamation mark.''
Developer groups were enthusiastic about the plan to fill in part of the harbour.
''We do support the plan for the infill of the harbour,'' said Stephen Albin, NSW chief executive of the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
The acting head of the NSW chapter of the Property Council of Australia, Glenn Byres, said: ''This is the imaginative, iconic design that the site deserved.''