Sports
Gulf nations’ investments in power sector to hit $250b
Gulf nations’ investments in power sector to hit $250b Staff Report / 15 June 2013 Gulf countries’ investments in the power sector is estimated to reach $250 billion in the next five years due to massive development and rapid growth, according to a latest study. Good outlook for power + water 2013 The rising demand in the power sector will further strengthen the role of Power + Water Middle East, the region’s premier showcase for the power and water sectors, taking place from September 23 to 25 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The event is held in strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority and will play a regional role in the celebrations of the International Year of Water 2013. The sixth edition of Power + Water Middle East will bring together developers, manufacturers, buyers and service providers from a range of sectors in power and water to meet, discuss and invest in current products and technologies in the related industries. – business@khaleejtimes.com The report, entitled “Power UAE” and published by research specialists Global Business Reports, said that the next five to 10 years will be crucial in shaping not only the UAE power sector, but will also change the face of the industry in the GCC and wider Middle East. With the power sectors of Abu Dhabi and Dubai experiencing rapid growth, experts estimate the annual growth in demand for electricity will rise by eight to 10 per cent over the next 10 years. The report added that Abu Dhabi’s power sector remains on top of the regional investment table with eight independent power and water producers in operation along with the introduction of the GCC’s first nuclear project which is now in its construction phase and slated to be fully operational by 2020. In Dubai, there are currently 11 plants varying from 400MW to 1,400MW with a total capacity of almost 9,000MW. This is in addition to the emirate’s new Dh300 million project to extend and activate a 132KW transmission cable network to redistribute powe load and provide stable electricity and water services throughout the city. Meanwhile, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah possess minimal natural resources and are in the initial stages of industrial development, with each stepping up efforts to build on their power and water sectors and encourage foreign investment to drive growth. “Economic diversification and demographics are driving the development of the power and water sectors in Abu Dhabi and the GCC, underlining the fact that the region is not only one of the fastest growing but also holds the most potential of global electricity markets,” said Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, director-general of the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority. “Abu Dhabi and Dubai have some of the world’s highest levels of electricity use per capita and efficiency of both electricity usage and generation will be the main concern across the UAE, GCC and Middle East regions in the coming years, especially with climatic changes demanding increased consumption of water and electricity in the summer months,” said Anita Mathews, director of Informa Energy Group, organisers of Power + Water Middle East. — business@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
About Dubai: Going organic? Shop here
About Dubai: Going organic? Shop here Nivriti Butalia / 15 June 2013 Organic Foods and Café on Shaikh Zayed Road in Dubai is the one-stop shop for those who want everything — from eatables to cosmetics — as natural as it could be, but for a price Friday afternoons at the Organic Foods and Café on Shaikh Zayed Road are bustling with people pushing their shopping carts past vegetables that have been flown in from Africa, towards the aisles that stock soba noodles and miso and brown rice, onwards to the poultry section. A family-run organisation, this organic — and biodynamic — food supermarket and café, next to Oasis Centre, also sells organic supplements, skincare, cosmetics, baby items and household cleaning products. You’ll find, among other things, quinoa and amaranth on these aisles. Shopping at an organic store is not cheap. On some days of the month, on certain weekends, there is a 20 per cent off on all produce except cosmetics but the tea tree oil and eucalyptus toothpastes and handwashes are still around Dh20. There is a range of products called [A’Kin]. One product from the line is a paraben-free, soap-free and sulfate-free “energising all in one hair and body wash”, with Orange, Ginseng and Spice, that costs Dh38. But to people who are used to buying only organic produce, there is no alternative. Buddy Abrahams, 39, a commercial director, has been living in Dubai for 10 years and shopping at the Organic Foods and Café since the first branch opened nine years ago in Satwa. Abrahams, who says he is close friends with owner and founder Nils Al Eccad, has been a loyal customer since the Satwa store, moving on to the second outlet in the Greens Community in 2005. In 2008, the supermarket and café in Satwa was replaced with a new store three times the size in The Dubai Mall, followed by the opening of the supermarket in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi and the supermarket and Café in Seef Mall, Bahrain. At the beginning of the year, the company closed their outlet in The Dubai Mall and opened this new flagship store on Shaikh Zayed Road, next to Oasis Center. A new shop in Village Mall in Jumeirah 1 is due to open in the coming weeks. You can find them on Facebook and get updates on which days the discounts are on. For someone like Abrahams, shopping anywhere else isn’t an option. He says he can “feel the difference in the taste” between organic and non-organic grown food. And the meat — he doesn’t touch the non-organic stuff that “is injected with hormones”, he says. “Why would you want to do that to your body?” He also says that he has had more energy since the switch to organic food many years ago. Both he and his wife cook with the produce they buy at the Shaikh Zayed Road store. For another customer, Deepa Phillips, a management trainer at Dubai Aluminium, this Friday was her first visit to the new and improved branch of the organic store. And she was on the lookout for white tea and quinoa – not nececssarily organic. She says the quality at the store — she’s been going to the branch at The Dubai Mall — is “second to none”. Other items on her regular shopping list include: Manuka honey and agave nectar. “My family calls me Miss Obsessive.” She’s also an advocate of grass-fed lamb, which is available at other stores throughout Dubai as well. At the café part of the store, there is a breakfast menu and a business lunch menu and everything on the menu is organic. Even the beef in the beef burger is organic. On the day Khaleej Times visited, on the list of specials is farfel pasta with chicken and mushroom sauce and black lentil with poached egg salad. The most interesting sections are the teas. There is elderflower and peppermint and chamomile and other soothing and detox varieties. The Organic Foods and Café has plans to expand, with new stores opening in locations throughout the GCC. It supplies over 12,000 hormone- and chemical-free products from producers throughout the world, as well as the largest gluten-free products in the region. With being so spoilt for choice, the one guarantee is the overall benefit to your health. The downside: shopping here could become a habit. — nivriti@khaleejtimes. com Continue reading
Muslim women from new angles
Muslim women from new angles Sarah Young / 15 June 2013 Artists in the UAE are calling people to visit a new online exhibition to expose themselves to the plight and success of Muslim women around the world, and challenge common stereotypes. Artist and University of Sharjah College of Fine Arts and Design lecturer Dr Fatima Zahra Hassan said Emirati women, in particular, should view a new online exhibition (http://muslima.imow.org) showcasing the stories of Muslim women from around the world. “I just feel that women here are not exposed, especially some Emirati women…they’re living in a cocoon…a utopia which is perfect and some don’t know what is happening outside and how women are suffering around the world.” Hassan is one of the three Sharjah-based artists featuring on Muslima: Muslim Women’s Arts and Voices, which is a global online exhibition from the International Museum of Women, incorporating art and the written word to explore identity and break stereotypes. Originally from Pakistan, Hassan trained at the London Royal College in Indo-Islamic, Mughal and Persian Painting techniques, with an emphasis on Art of Book. Hassan, Sharjah-based painter Haafiza Sayed and writer Dalia Merzaban will be holding workshops about their crafts and how their art forms have helped develop their identity, followed by a panel discussion, “How do you know who I am”, at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation today. Hassan added the exhibition had really opened her own eyes up to both positive and negative aspects of being a Muslim woman. “The texts, images and photos were really overwhelming. “But I got to know more about the positive things about Muslim women all over the world.” Hassan has done a lot of voluntary work in Pakistan and the UK, including in flood refugee camps with women and children. “So I had seen so much misery and tragedy… but this exhibition showed a much broader side of Muslim women. I came to know about a (Pakistani) woman who just reached the peak of Mt Everest… and then I did a lot of research about women in developing countries who had achieved a lot, and working in areas that are very uncommon for women to work in.” Despite the perception that art was not a career, meaning many creatives here went into interior design, multimedia or graphic design instead, there were a growing number of female Arab artists coming through, she said. However, not many newer Emirati artists were dealing with women’s issues. “Because most of these women are coming from privileged backgrounds so they can’t think of issues, apart from being more free and independent … they have got everything. “If you look at the (exhibition) website, the best works are from American, Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani American artists. The photos are really outstanding…really thought-provoking concepts and ideas.” Sayed, originally from India and who has lived in Sharjah for five years, said that even if a “a small part of worldwide opinion about Muslim women (is changed as a result of the exhibition), it (is) a step forward.” She got involved because it was a chance to challenge recognised stereotypes associated with Muslim women. “We’re constantly being judged by our appearances and attire… (people think) we’re oppressed, we don’t have a life, maybe we are not educated, that we belong to a society that dominates us. Yes there are some societies like that, but look at the UAE …women are working and having all kinds of jobs.” These stereotypes came from both outside and within their own community, she said. “If you don’t stick to a particular way of dressing, you’re labelled un-Islamic or astray…that’s what my second painting is about…she is judged in and out of her own community no matter what she wears.” Sayed will be talking at the workshop about how she found herself through art. After “getting lost” and losing the will to paint following her formal training, she became an interior designer and only years later picked up the paintbrush again, determined to ‘unlearn’ what she knew, and rediscover her own style. “Since then, I have grown spiritually through my art…10 years ago, if someone asked me what I liked, I wouldn’t know what to say…now I know what gives me pleasure, what inspires and drives me.” — sarah@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
