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Khalifa City A: They’re rooting for this outback
Khalifa City A: They’re rooting for this outback Silvia Radan / 21 August 2013 Situated north-east of Musaffah industrial area, a bridge away from Abu Dhabi main island, Yas island, and a short ride to the international airport, between the two highways to Dubai and Al Ain, Khalifa City A has become the Capital’s hottest residential area. It covers 22.9 square kilometres of sea level land, having about 2,000 villas and counting. At a first glance, there isn’t much to it — residential houses for as far as the eye can see, endless construction sites for even more residential homes, a labyrinth of small streets that would require any visitor a GPS to navigate, a complete lack of green spaces and dust, dust, dust everywhere! Yet, anyone who left the big towers of Abu Dhabi behind and moved out here is hooked on to it. “I would not want to go back and live in the city for so many reasons. For starters, there is never a parking issue here. The rent is much lower and we get much nicer living conditions. In Abu Dhabi, we lived in one of the tower blocks. It was a new one, very clean, with very good services, but windows wouldn’t open, there was no outdoor space, nowhere for children to play and we never heard a bird singing. Here, we live in a villa apartment, with a private garden and swimming pool. It’s bigger space and cheaper,” said British national Diana Oliver, who moved to Khalifa City A six months ago, with her family. Like many housewives here, Diana spends the morning with a leisurely coffee after taking her daughter to one of the local schools. It is her quiet time of the day, when she gets to write in her diary, which she hopes to turn into a book one day about her experience of living in an Arab country. Lunch is often with friends in the Garden Plaza, a complex part of Al Raha Gardens with a few shops, a small supermarket and a couple of cafes. “We did initially consider moving into Al Raha Gardens, but we found the villas have a lot of space inside and not too much outside. They are consider the creme de la creme out here, but to be honest, I believe if you take the time to look around, you find much nicer villas in Khalifa City itself,” said Diana. The commercial area of Khalifa City A. — KT photos by Shoaib Anwer Flanking the north of Khalifa City, stretching along the E10 highway leading to Masdar City, Al Raha Gardens are a series of residential compounds developed by Aldar Properties. Each compound is a cluster of tall two- to three-floor-high villas, dotted with trees, narrow alleys and a community playground for children. It is the only area in Khalifa City to have gas supply. The villas are available for rent only and they are intended for families, as most of them are three to four bedrooms. Yves Tarabout, a French expatriate, moved into a three-bedroom villa in Al Raha Gardens on March 1 and his life took a happier turn. “I’m very happy here! The location is good, with easy accessibility to Yas island and Abu Dhabi. The villa is well structured with good finish. There are lots of wooden features and top-to-bottom windows that can be fully opened. There are trees, space, light and the compound is nice, with security gates,” he described. Tarabout’s two dogs have become healthier and more playful since relocating, as they get to spend a lot more time outdoors. Several close-by vet centres make life easier for any pet owner — and there are quite a few in Khalifa City. “There is also access to decent recreational facilities in Al Raha Gardens itself, including a gym for Al Raha residents only. It’s quite small, but it’s good to have. There is no swimming pool yet, but we are promised one soon,” added Tarabout. Apart from tight and not that many parking spaces in the compound, Tarabout’s only complaint is the “quite restrictive communication channels” with Al Raha administration, which is not as quick and prompt in sorting out issues as it should be, especially since the Gardens are considered a top-of-the-market location. “We were lucky to only pay Dh155,000 rent per year, but a friend of mine who plans to move here found a similar three-bedroom villa for Dh190,000 now,” mentioned Tarabout. The price rise reflects a serious increase as Dubai residents are moving in, as a result of Abu Dhabi’s government ruling that all its employees must reside in Abu Dhabi. By the end of this year, thousands of families are expected to move from Dubai to the Capital, and many of them are looking at Khalifa City A. Apart from the Garden Plaza, the suburban town also has the Etihad Plaza, a lane of cafes, shops, an Etisalat branch and Khalifa City’s most expensive supermarket, Abella. Further inland is the largest supermarket, Spar, next to a post office branch. The “market area” is another landmark, a raw of grocery shops and small, mostly takeaway cafes, most popular with the Arab and South Asian populations of Khalifa City. A myriad of schools, nurseries and ladies salons dot the main streets. “None of these existed when we moved in,” pointed out Emirati Lee Al Romaithi, one of the first residents of Khalifa City. He and his family moved in 13 years ago, in April 2000. The house belongs to his father, who built it after getting a plot of land here in 1989. “When we moved here, there was only one other house in Khalifa City, about one kilometre away. We were able to see the airport from our home,” he remembered. It took six months to get telephone lines and one year and 10 months for the Internet connection. “We didn’t even have running water back then. We only got water for one hour a day, and I used to store about 20 tonnes of water daily for our consumption, the garden and for emergencies, in four massive tanks. We didn’t use it all, though.” The first grocery shop only opened three years later and access in and out of the city was limited, only through the small side road past the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. “I remember that road being closed for a while and we had to drive all the way down to the airport and come back through that side,” said Pamela Al Romaithi, Lee’s wife. “Yet, I loved Khalifa City back then. It was quiet and nice. It still is, especially if you keep away from the main 15th street,” she added. To this day, sea shells are still found in the earth around here, a reminder of the early days of Khalifa City, when it was a patch of land under the sea levels, taking the government a couple of years to raise it by a few metres with sea sand before infrastructure construction began in the early 1990s. Further away, Khalifa City B in the southwest is yet to catch up. Residents here, mostly Emirati homes, suffer from a complete lack of facilities — not even a grocery shop in sight. This keeps the rent low, but tenants are few and far between. Earlier this year, the Abu Dhabi Municipality announced plans to open a 25,000-square-metre community centre in Khalifa B that will include shops and cafes. The centre is meant to be ready by December 2014. In between the two “cities” is a large empty plot of land, where a third Khalifa City is planned — the Capital District, which will become the seat of power and government for the whole of the UAE as per Abu Dhabi 2030 plan. The largest Zayed University campus is the only building here and next to it is planned the Abu Dhabi railway station. silvia@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Indian expats cashing in on falling rupee
Indian expats cashing in on falling rupee Staff Reporter / 21 August 2013 Concerns mounted over the state of the Indian economy as the country’s currency plummeted to another record low against the dollar and shares continued their slide on Tuesday. The Indian rupee, Asia’s worst-performing currency this year slid to 64.13 rupees to the dollar in morning trading, past its previous low of 63.22 on Monday, and some Indian expats are cashing in on the record low the currency has hit by sending more money home. The Reserve Bank of India is believed to have intervened twice in the foreign exchange market to sell dollars for rupees. The move lifted the Indian unit slightly but it still ended the day at a new lifetime closing low of 63.25 rupees to the dollar. Troubles besetting the rupee, which has fallen nearly 17 per cent against the dollar this year, has spilt over to the stock and bond markets. Indian shares — which have lost seven per cent in the past three trading days — slid as much as 1.83 per cent in early trade to a low of 17,970.98 points before recovering to close down 0.34 per cent at 18,246.04. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond hit 9.23 per cent intraday, the highest for over five years, reflecting eroding investor appetite for Indian debt as worries about the economy and potential default mounted, AFP reported. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told parliament a number of government steps had been taken to stem the rupee’s decline including reducing imports of non-essential items such as gold. The falling rupee stokes inflation by raising the cost of everything India imports from crude oil to chemicals and pulses. There are also growing fears that India will find it tough to fund its gaping current account deficit, which hit a record high last year. India’s weak trading sentiment was mirrored across key Asian stock markets, with investors jittery before Wednesday’s publication of the minutes of July’s US Federal Open Market Committee meeting. These were expected to give indications about a possible rollback of the Fed’s massive stimulus programme. Most emerging market currencies have been hit by expectations the Fed will scale back its stimulus sooner than expected, causing funds to flow back to the United States as its economy recovers. “This is a crisis, the sentiment is extremely frail,” said Param Sarma, chief executive of NSP Forex, a forex consultancy, according to AFP news agency. In the UAE, many Indian expats view the record decline of their currency as an opportunity to invest and send more cash home. However, Vasudev, assistant manager of UAE Exchange, Bur Dubai branch, said it’s been business as usual. “Even though we opened at Rs17.3 to the dirham on Tuesday morning, fluctuations in the rupee don’t influence people. The people who have to remit do so on a monthly basis — end of the month and first week of the month, around the time salaries get credited.” At a branch of Al Fardan Exchange located in a mall, the manager (not authorised to speak to the media), said he had noticed a disturbing trend in the past few weeks of Indians taking personal loans from banks and sending the money home. The manager’s own belief is: “Send what you have, never take a liability, it’s best to take it slow and send monthly.” “Yesterday, a man sent five million in Indian currency home to three different accounts.” There is a huge risk, though, in taking loans and sending that money home. According to K. V. Shamsudheen, who runs a charitable trust and looks into the welfare of NRIs and also conducts classes in Dubai on financial awareness: “More than 36 per cent Indians are taking loans from credit card companies that say they are charging 2-3 per cent interest” when, in fact, that 2-3 per cent was not annual interest, but monthly. Shamsudheen advises expats on key matters: “Never take loans from individual money lenders. Never take loans from credit card companies. And if you are remitting money home, make sure the investment back home is not in real estate, not in buying houses, but in a liquid investment such as fixed deposit, mutual funds and stocks.” news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Rupee hits new low again
Rupee hits new low again Issac John / 20 August 2013 The battered Indian rupee plunged to a record low of 63.30 to the dollar on Monday amid indications that its seemingly inexorable fall will continue for some more time as attempts by the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, to shore up its value appeared ineffective. Silver plates in the form of Indian rupee notes at a showroom in New Delhi. Some analysts predict that the currency may even hit 70 against the dollar in a matter of weeks. — Reuters The partially-convertible rupee tumbled 2.3 per cent on Monday, its biggest single-day fall since September 22, 2011, leaving non-resident Indians in the Gulf in a quandary — whether to transfer their money now or wait for further exchange rate gains. Most money exchange houses in the UAE reported only normal remittance business as uncertainty persisted about a further decline in rupee value with some analysts even predicting that the relentless decline could even hit 70 against the dollar in weeks. While efforts to prop up the rupee, which has tumbled more than 12 per cent against the dollar this year, have thus far proved ineffective, bond yields surged to five-year highs threatening to drive the Asia’s third-largest economy towards a full-blown crisis. Currency analysts believe the rupee could overshoot to 64 to 65 to the dollar in the next few months and then could come back provided the recent measures by the RBI — including tightening of rules on how much citizens and companies can invest abroad, and curbing gold imports — prove effective while other key initiatives such as the opening up of foreign direct investments and trimming of fiscal and current account deficits succeed. Currency dealers said persistent dollar demand by banks and oil refiners contributed to the rupee’s latest fall. They expect further dollar selling by the RBI as well as other measures to support the currency. World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu, describing the country’s problems were “overplayed,” said India was not in danger of a full-blown economic crisis. India is nowhere near the 1991 crisis when India had to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in what was considered a national humiliation, he said. “The gloom is being overplayed.” Analysts believe that apart from deteriorating economic troubles at home, an exodus of foreign investors on concerns over a possible scale back in quantitative easing by the US had aggravated the currency’s woes. The government is struggling to reduce its current account deficit, which currently stands at 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, or GDP, while attempts to push through structural reforms by relaxing restrictions on foreign direct investment have seen little progress. Net outflows from Indian bonds and stocks total $11.4 billion since late May. Still, India has reserves to cover about seven months of imports, compared with just three weeks in 1991. India’s bond market has borne the brunt of the outflows, with foreigners taking out around $10 billion since May 22. The benchmark 10-year bond yield surged 35 basis points on the day, to 9.23 per cent. Equity markets have remained relatively insulated with outflows from the cash market at less than $100 million on Friday, when the main stock benchmark fell about four per cent, the most in nearly two years. Heightened selling in equities could exacerbate the rupee’s fall, dealers said. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s main stock index fell 1.6 per cent on Monday. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark government bond climbed as high as 9.26 per cent, its highest since August 1, 2008, before the Lehman Brothers collapse. Many economists believe the RBI’s liquidity tightening will stay in place longer than initially expected, and many have cut their economic growth forecasts for the current fiscal year. However, amid this worsening scenario, there are many optimists who still believe in the Indian growth story. They expect the economy to pick up pace in the coming years as it is on track to cut deficit to around three per cent of GDP by 2016. The country is also on target to register a growth of six per cent in 2013-14 and in the next year it will go up to seven per cent. India, which is among the three large economies that are able to record above five per cent growth amid a gloomy global scenario, is also all set to emerge as the fifth world economic power by 2020-25. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
