By Jen Gerson
After four months of fighting fellow commuters for the winning hail, cheating my fellow man out of cabs as they drew up, and even sometimes standing directly in the path of an oncoming taxi only to be refused service because I was not travelling as far as Mussafah, I had had enough. It was now far too hot for this tripe, I decided… and no one had told me that the municipality was to launch a bus service. So I bought a car.
As so often happens, I have traded one set of problems for another. Although I no longer have to bear the brunt of the mid-morning sun while waiting for a taxi that may never come, I do have to contend with the green sentinels perched at all corners of Hamdan Street: the portents of the imminent arrival of paid parking. In a recent interview, Abdulla al Shamsi, the director of roads and infrastructure with the Abu Dhabi municipality, said that the green parking machines are not yet functioning as the laws required to enforce parking infractions have not yet been put in place. He was very proud, however, that the green machines are the latest and greatest in the field of parking technology and will accept coins, credit cards and even allow drivers to recharge their stubs by mobile phone.
The new machines do offer one considerable downside, however: They mean we will all have to pay for parking. But Mr al Shamsi assures us that this will not be an out-and-out cash grab; the meters are intended as a means of reducing traffic and nudging drivers into the paid, multi-storey car parks. There is one problem with that theory, as anyone who has attempted a 33-point turn through a triple-parked back street can attest: the car parks are full, too.
The municipality has said that additional parking towers are to be built across the city to alleviate the nightly parking smash and dash. This sounds wonderful, until we see where they are to be placed: in the Tourist Club area and in the east of the island, away from central Hamdan and Electra Streets, where parking is most problematic.
So why would new parking towers not be placed in the most congested areas?
“There’s no room there,” the municipality said. Thanks, we had noticed. The municipality does admit, however, that it does not want to improve the parking situation too much, as that would encourage new residents to buy more cars.
The Abu Dhabi municipality does not have an easy beat. It has to manage a city that is growing exponentially and a road system that is at, or over, capacity. According to Mr al Shamsi, the number of cars on the motorways has doubled in each of the past two years.
Any city in the world would be straining under that kind of growth. But fresh fields of shaded free parking spaces on their own will not create a further spurt in car sales. In Abu Dhabi, the car is king because there is no viable alternative. I would have been happy to skip the expense and trouble of a car but, as a recent report pointed out, the number of taxis in the city had increased by only eight per cent in the past decade, while the population had grown by 70 per cent. Because of this strain, depending on cabs is not a reliable way to get to and from work. The new bus service I have yet to test and now never will.
The lack of an inter-emirate train system makes seeing friends and doing business in Dubai inconvenient and expensive without a car. Entire swaths of Abu Dhabi, including attractions such as the Zayed Sports Complex, the summer festival at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Khalifa City and the Bateen neighbourhood are virtually inaccessible without private transportation. The city has been built for the car and parking meters are not going to stop people from buying them. Where there is no alternative, the meters are just going to add to the spiralling cost of living.
How is it that we can build the world’s next major cultural district in less than a decade, the planet’s most expensive hotel, and yet omit to pencil in bike lanes or hire enough taxis? Why has it taken two years of congested roads to implement a basic bus system?
Although the municipality has not said when it will start charging for parking on Hamdan Street, it has promised that the system would only come on line with the availability of public transit. Well, the buses are here now, so the charges are unlikely to be far behind. In the meantime, I am just one more driver with nowhere to park.
After four months of fighting fellow commuters for the winning hail, cheating my fellow man out of cabs as they drew up, and even sometimes standing directly in the path of an oncoming taxi only to be refused service because I was not travelling as far as Mussafah, I had had enough. It was now far too hot for this tripe, I decided… and no one had told me that the municipality was to launch a bus service. So I bought a car.
As so often happens, I have traded one set of problems for another. Although I no longer have to bear the brunt of the mid-morning sun while waiting for a taxi that may never come, I do have to contend with the green sentinels perched at all corners of Hamdan Street: the portents of the imminent arrival of paid parking. In a recent interview, Abdulla al Shamsi, the director of roads and infrastructure with the Abu Dhabi municipality, said that the green parking machines are not yet functioning as the laws required to enforce parking infractions have not yet been put in place. He was very proud, however, that the green machines are the latest and greatest in the field of parking technology and will accept coins, credit cards and even allow drivers to recharge their stubs by mobile phone.
The new machines do offer one considerable downside, however: They mean we will all have to pay for parking. But Mr al Shamsi assures us that this will not be an out-and-out cash grab; the meters are intended as a means of reducing traffic and nudging drivers into the paid, multi-storey car parks. There is one problem with that theory, as anyone who has attempted a 33-point turn through a triple-parked back street can attest: the car parks are full, too.
The municipality has said that additional parking towers are to be built across the city to alleviate the nightly parking smash and dash. This sounds wonderful, until we see where they are to be placed: in the Tourist Club area and in the east of the island, away from central Hamdan and Electra Streets, where parking is most problematic.
So why would new parking towers not be placed in the most congested areas?
“There’s no room there,” the municipality said. Thanks, we had noticed. The municipality does admit, however, that it does not want to improve the parking situation too much, as that would encourage new residents to buy more cars.
The Abu Dhabi municipality does not have an easy beat. It has to manage a city that is growing exponentially and a road system that is at, or over, capacity. According to Mr al Shamsi, the number of cars on the motorways has doubled in each of the past two years.
Any city in the world would be straining under that kind of growth. But fresh fields of shaded free parking spaces on their own will not create a further spurt in car sales. In Abu Dhabi, the car is king because there is no viable alternative. I would have been happy to skip the expense and trouble of a car but, as a recent report pointed out, the number of taxis in the city had increased by only eight per cent in the past decade, while the population had grown by 70 per cent. Because of this strain, depending on cabs is not a reliable way to get to and from work. The new bus service I have yet to test and now never will.
The lack of an inter-emirate train system makes seeing friends and doing business in Dubai inconvenient and expensive without a car. Entire swaths of Abu Dhabi, including attractions such as the Zayed Sports Complex, the summer festival at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Khalifa City and the Bateen neighbourhood are virtually inaccessible without private transportation. The city has been built for the car and parking meters are not going to stop people from buying them. Where there is no alternative, the meters are just going to add to the spiralling cost of living.
How is it that we can build the world’s next major cultural district in less than a decade, the planet’s most expensive hotel, and yet omit to pencil in bike lanes or hire enough taxis? Why has it taken two years of congested roads to implement a basic bus system?
Although the municipality has not said when it will start charging for parking on Hamdan Street, it has promised that the system would only come on line with the availability of public transit. Well, the buses are here now, so the charges are unlikely to be far behind. In the meantime, I am just one more driver with nowhere to park.
High Inflation Is actually Good For the UAE!
If you are living here in the UAE, there are more pressing matters to think of, beside of course the mercury level is already reaching 50 degree. The simmering heat is normal during summer and most residents, if not already gone, are leaving for vacation, including myself.
I have been reading a lot of articles on the current inflation that hits us hard. The spiralling cost is real and most of the expatriates will have to change their lifestyles as well.
A report says:
Nothing about the economy is more emotive than the cost of living. Having a wealth of information - on stock markets, levels of supply and demand, and the balance of trade - is all well and good. But, when it comes down to it, what the majority of people care about most is how it will hit their pockets.
And people’s pockets have been well and truly hit. In 2007 inflation in the UAE stood – officially – at 11.1 per cent, its highest level in at least 20 years. Rents have risen so much that the government moved to introduce a cap on price rises; the cost of everyday items is creeping up as the quality of life creeps down.
Yet some believe that high inflation is a good thing for residents. One commentator says that rising prices represent “the oil that drives the economy”, and are merely a consequence of rapid development and a booming property sector. The argument is that - as more and more people come to live and work in the UAE - intense demand (especially on rental properties) will inevitably drive up prices as the country attempts to fast-track its economy. But residents will, eventually, reap the rewards of this.
Another more controversial view is that high inflation is good because it can actually deter people from coming to live and work in the UAE. Businessman and commentator Sultan Al Qassimi says that – while he is in favour of immigration – “the country just can’t take any more people coming in”.
Al Qassimi believes that a higher cost of living may bring a better quality of life because it means fewer people will be putting pressure on essential services and infrastructure, like the roads.
Do you agree? Are we paying more, but getting a better quality of life?
Or is the rising cost of living deterring workers who could be of benefit to the economy, while spelling poorer living conditions (and higher levels of personal debt) for those already living in the UAE?
I have been reading a lot of articles on the current inflation that hits us hard. The spiralling cost is real and most of the expatriates will have to change their lifestyles as well.
A report says:
Nothing about the economy is more emotive than the cost of living. Having a wealth of information - on stock markets, levels of supply and demand, and the balance of trade - is all well and good. But, when it comes down to it, what the majority of people care about most is how it will hit their pockets.
And people’s pockets have been well and truly hit. In 2007 inflation in the UAE stood – officially – at 11.1 per cent, its highest level in at least 20 years. Rents have risen so much that the government moved to introduce a cap on price rises; the cost of everyday items is creeping up as the quality of life creeps down.
Yet some believe that high inflation is a good thing for residents. One commentator says that rising prices represent “the oil that drives the economy”, and are merely a consequence of rapid development and a booming property sector. The argument is that - as more and more people come to live and work in the UAE - intense demand (especially on rental properties) will inevitably drive up prices as the country attempts to fast-track its economy. But residents will, eventually, reap the rewards of this.
Another more controversial view is that high inflation is good because it can actually deter people from coming to live and work in the UAE. Businessman and commentator Sultan Al Qassimi says that – while he is in favour of immigration – “the country just can’t take any more people coming in”.
Al Qassimi believes that a higher cost of living may bring a better quality of life because it means fewer people will be putting pressure on essential services and infrastructure, like the roads.
Do you agree? Are we paying more, but getting a better quality of life?
Or is the rising cost of living deterring workers who could be of benefit to the economy, while spelling poorer living conditions (and higher levels of personal debt) for those already living in the UAE?
Visit Malaysia - Minus 5 states
Perhaps, it is a bad joke that our Tourism Ministry has deleted five states from its website and ongoing promotions. It could be because the current and latest map of Malaysia showing a new sparkling corridor, i.e. five states under Pakatan Rakyat.
Joke aside, we need to shift our paradigm and mentality into higher level, especially those who are now leaders of the nation. Malaysia is a nation irrespective which parties rule. We can change the leaders and parties that rule the government but we are all Malaysians who love Malaysia, a heaven on earth and the best destination for holidays (well, it can be disputed but who cares)
Yes, we need to live in diversity of cultures as well with different political inclinations and support. We are going for a developed nation status which means, it does not matter which political party/parties or leaders as long as rule of law, human rights and other constitutional matters are intact.
The below article somehow makes me take another look of the real situation on the ground, it is not a joke anymore!
Foreign language lessons for Germans
R. Nadeswaran
IT was quite a bad error of judgment, to say the least. Having left Frankfurt the day before – Sunday, June 22, there was a sort of helplessness when Bernama filed this report the following day: "Tourism Malaysia is working on growing its share of the northeast Asia market by coming up with new plans to draw more arrivals from Japan and Hongkong."
Its international promotion director for North and East Asia Wan Zawawi Mohamed was quoted as saying that a promotion on Malaysia’s gastronomy and spa delights was launched in Taiwan and was well-received by tour agents there.
What a pity. The Friday before, friends in Germany were talking over lunch about a trip to Malaysia and a sojourn to Penang was a must. They had experienced it all before, but had to convince their wives to make that 12-hour flight, though. While they went back to clear their work because of an important Euro match ahead, I marched to the Tourism Malaysia office in the centre of the city to pick up some literature for the womenfolk who only spoke a smattering English and knew little about our country.
I signed in the name in the "record book" at the reception to be greeted by a man of Middle-Eastern origin. Polite as he was, he was unable to help. I had asked for brochures on Selangor and Penang in the German language so that these could change the mindsets of a minority who still believe they have to cover their bodies from head to toe will learn something different and stay in their hotel rooms because there is no nightlife and no liquor.
"Sorry, Sir," he said. "We don’t have anything in German except one which gives a little bit of everything on Malaysia."
"Anything on Penang? Anything for my German-speaking friends?"
He went into the office and came back with a few brochures, all in English. However, there was one which caught my eye. It was on eating out in Penang and the photographs and illustrations were attractive. But then, it was in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese!
What were such brochures doing in Frankfurt? These languages are not widely spoken in Germany? But you would argue that it is not uncommon for such "mistakes" in our system. But then, in view of the austerity drive, it was apparent that there was another use for them. It was then that I knew that Wan Zawawi needed help and plenty of it. If he was indeed luring the gastronomy tourists from Taiwan and Japan, shouldn’t such brochures be shipped from Frankfurt to Tokyo or Taipei where they would be more useful?
Oh! That involves another cost besides shipping it from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt in the first place! It won’t be easy finding a company belonging to someone’s uncle’s sister-in-law’s nephew’s wife’s cousin! But then there are Malaysians residents in Germany who could do with a bit of duit belanja! It could be like the promotional video tapes which was produced by the same agency for Taiwan where it was claimed that the costs were inflated.
But then thoughts went back to the aftermath of the events March 8 when it was decreed that tourism money won’t be given to the five Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states. And at the Dewan Rakyat two months later, documents were presented to suggest that orders were given out that those five magic words – Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan – be deleted from the Tourism Malaysia websites. Questions linger whether the brochures for Penang were deliberately sent in the wrong languages or if orders were being carried out to the letter.
Could it be because after that historic day, didn’t someone change our slogan to "Visit Malaysia minus Five States."?
Its international promotion director for North and East Asia Wan Zawawi Mohamed was quoted as saying that a promotion on Malaysia’s gastronomy and spa delights was launched in Taiwan and was well-received by tour agents there.
What a pity. The Friday before, friends in Germany were talking over lunch about a trip to Malaysia and a sojourn to Penang was a must. They had experienced it all before, but had to convince their wives to make that 12-hour flight, though. While they went back to clear their work because of an important Euro match ahead, I marched to the Tourism Malaysia office in the centre of the city to pick up some literature for the womenfolk who only spoke a smattering English and knew little about our country.
I signed in the name in the "record book" at the reception to be greeted by a man of Middle-Eastern origin. Polite as he was, he was unable to help. I had asked for brochures on Selangor and Penang in the German language so that these could change the mindsets of a minority who still believe they have to cover their bodies from head to toe will learn something different and stay in their hotel rooms because there is no nightlife and no liquor.
"Sorry, Sir," he said. "We don’t have anything in German except one which gives a little bit of everything on Malaysia."
"Anything on Penang? Anything for my German-speaking friends?"
He went into the office and came back with a few brochures, all in English. However, there was one which caught my eye. It was on eating out in Penang and the photographs and illustrations were attractive. But then, it was in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese!
What were such brochures doing in Frankfurt? These languages are not widely spoken in Germany? But you would argue that it is not uncommon for such "mistakes" in our system. But then, in view of the austerity drive, it was apparent that there was another use for them. It was then that I knew that Wan Zawawi needed help and plenty of it. If he was indeed luring the gastronomy tourists from Taiwan and Japan, shouldn’t such brochures be shipped from Frankfurt to Tokyo or Taipei where they would be more useful?
Oh! That involves another cost besides shipping it from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt in the first place! It won’t be easy finding a company belonging to someone’s uncle’s sister-in-law’s nephew’s wife’s cousin! But then there are Malaysians residents in Germany who could do with a bit of duit belanja! It could be like the promotional video tapes which was produced by the same agency for Taiwan where it was claimed that the costs were inflated.
But then thoughts went back to the aftermath of the events March 8 when it was decreed that tourism money won’t be given to the five Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states. And at the Dewan Rakyat two months later, documents were presented to suggest that orders were given out that those five magic words – Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan – be deleted from the Tourism Malaysia websites. Questions linger whether the brochures for Penang were deliberately sent in the wrong languages or if orders were being carried out to the letter.
Could it be because after that historic day, didn’t someone change our slogan to "Visit Malaysia minus Five States."?
Officially no, but on the quiet, it is "yes". The whole nation waits for answers with bated breath, but they will never be forthcoming. There’s much more to do than answering questions from the media on tourism because people are busy finding excuses for another tourism product called the World Youth Cup which is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons!
R. Nadeswaran is amazed at how money is wasted on such enterprises at a time when the government is asking taxpayers to tighten their belts.
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