Nakheel eyes 'sustainable' projects prior to Expo

Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah.

Dubai developer Nakheel has pledged to deliver a range of "innovations, sustainable destination developments" in the run up to Expo 2020, giving more details about its main project to resume work on Deira Islands.

Nakheel, the company behind the Palm Jumeirah and The World, said in a statement that its new projects will bring a "host of new, world-class tourism, cultural, business and residential facilities to Dubai".

Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: "We will be honoured and proud to play our part in the delivery of World Expo 2020, which will promote and celebrate innovation, creativity and cultural diversity while encouraging global co-operation to introduce effective solutions for the challenges facing society."

Among Nakheel's pipeline of projects is Deira Islands, a four-island, mixed-use waterfront development that will add more than 40km to Dubai's existing coastline and provide infrastructure for the development of dozens of hotels and resorts, serviced apartments, retail centres and individual homes.

The project will contribute significantly to the Government of Dubai's tourism strategy, with Nakheel offering special payment plans and incentives for hotels to develop on the islands, the developer said.

Nakheel itself will develop the whole of the south island, creating a unique creek side destination, it added, saying the island will include a night market in the style of an Arabic souk; a 250-room hotel; an amphitheatre for 30,000 people; and a marina that can accommodate large yachts. The island will also have a number of waterfront plots for hotels, resorts and serviced apartments.

The other three islands will feature hotels, resorts and residential, commercial and retail units. Nakheel will master plan and complete infrastructure work ready for third party development on each island.

Nakheel said it is also continuing to enhance its flagship project - Palm Jumeirah - with several new projects underway or in the pipeline including Palm Jumeirah Boardwalk; Palm West Beach; Nakheel Mall and Hotel; The Pointe and a number of residential units on the world-famous island.

* Nakheel no longer responds to media enquiries from Arabian Business, nor does it grant Arabian Business access to any of its media events or announcements.

Kuwait seen awarding $24bn contracts during 2014

Kuwait looks set to achieve a record breaking year in 2014 as far as contract awards are concerned, according to a report.

More than $24 billion in contracts could be awarded next year, double the value compared to the total this year.

Many of the opportunities will be found in Kuwait's oil and gas sector, with bids due to be submitted over the next three months for the two largest projects - the estimated $16bn Clean Fuels Project (CFP) and the $7bn Lower Fars heavy oil scheme.

"Oil and gas is not the only sector of interest. Kuwait is embarking on one of the region's most ambitious hospital expansion programmes as it seeks to double the number of beds over the next decade," said Edmund O' Sullivan, chairman, MEED Events, organisers of Kuwait Projects 2013.

Kuwait is also pushing development in education, with construction work ongoing on the $3bn-plus Sabah al-Salem new university campus.

Tenders are also expected to be issued soon for the long-awaited $3.2bn new Kuwait International Airport terminal, while there are long-term ambitions for a multi-billion-dollar rail and metro network.

Over the long-term, MEED said it sees a more robust projects market in Kuwait, with over $100 billion worth of contracts to be awarded and implemented over the next 10 years.

Kuwait's budget surplus fell to KD12.7bn ($44.8 billion) - equivalent to 24.7 percent of gross domestic product, still one of the highest levels in the world - for the fiscal year that ended in March. Its current account surplus stood at KD22.2bn in 2012.

The IMF has forecast Kuwait's fiscal surplus will come in at 27.4 percent of GDP in 2013/14 after 33.4 percent in 2012/13, higher than the finance ministry's estimates

Retail plan revealed in $5.5bn Doha Downtown project

Msheireb Downtown Doha, the flagship project of Msheireb Properties, will feature extensive retail outlets including a mall, its CEO said on Sunday.

The Galleria will comprise approximately 100 stores set across four levels of shopping and entertainment space.

Spanning approximately 48,000 square metres of gross leasable space, the Galleria will comprise an anchor supermarket on the lower ground floor, and a six screen cinema.

Sikkat Al Wadi, the development's largest pedestrian street, running the entire length of Downtown Doha will also provide a wide range of shopping options, including flagship stores in addition to fashion boutiques, restaurants, and cafes, a statement said.

Abdulla Hassan Al-Mehshadi, CEO at Msheireb Properties, said: "What sets the project's retail offering apart from traditional malls is that it will integrate well-known international brands with smaller local brands or boutiques which will provide an authentic town centre atmosphere whilst keeping alive unique Qatari characteristics, traditions and heritage.

"In this way we hope to offer a more personal and appealing shopping experience than the massive shopping malls that are everywhere across the Gulf."

The development will also host the region's largest shaded open-air square, Al Baraha - a family destination with restaurants and cafes featuring events and large scale shows, he added.

Msheireb broke ground on the $5.5bn Downtown Doha project in 2010, with development set to be completed in four phases. Phase two of the project was awarded last year to Dubai builder Arabtec, while phase one went to Brookfield Multiplex Medgulf.

When complete in 2016, the 31-hectare site will include more than 100 buildings offering housing, workspace, cultural and community facilities, while preserving key heritage buildings.

Photographer wins $1.2m from media firms that took pics off Twitter

(Photo for illustrative purpose only)

A federal jury on Friday ordered two media companies to pay $1.2m to a freelance photojournalist for their unauthorised use of photographs he posted to Twitter.

The jury found that Agence France-Presse and Getty Images wilfully violated the Copyright Act when they used photos Daniel Morel took in his native Haiti after the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people, Morel's lawyer, Joseph Baio, said.

The case is one of the first to address how images that individuals make available to the public through social media can be used by third parties for commercial purposes.

"We believe that this is the first time that these defendants or any other major digital licensor of photography have been found liable for wilful violations of the Copyright Act," Baio said in an email.

Lawyers for AFP and Getty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US District Judge Alison Nathan, who presided over the trial, had ruled in January that the two companies were liable for infringement.

An editor at AFP discovered Morel's photos through another Twitter user's account and provided them to Getty. The photos were then widely disseminated to Getty's clients, including several television networks and the Washington Post.

The trial was held solely to determine the amount of damages for Morel, based on whether the jury found that AFP and Getty wilfully infringed on Morel's copyrights.

The $1.2m was the maximum statutory penalty available under the Copyright Act, Baio said. AFP had asked for the award to be set at $120,000.

Several news outlets that published Morel's images previously settled with the photographer for undisclosed amounts, including the Washington Post, CBS, ABC and CNN.

During the trial, Marcia Paul, a lawyer for Getty, said Morel was asking the jury "to make him the best paid news photographer on the planet."

Joshua Kaufman, a lawyer for AFP, blamed the infringement on an innocent mistake and said the Twitter user who posted Morel's photos without attribution bore responsibility for the error. The AFP editor, Kaufman said, believed the pictures were posted for public distribution.

AFP filed the lawsuit in 2010 against Morel, seeking a declaration that it had not infringed on his copyrights, after Morel accused it of improper use. Morel then filed his own counterclaims.

AFP had initially argued that Twitter's terms of service permitted the use of the photos. But Nathan found in January that the company's policies allowed posting and "retweeting" of images but did not grant the right to use them commercially.

Etisalat said to stall $800m Pakistan payment

Etisalat has told Pakistan it will not the pay the $800 million it owes the government from buying a stake in the country's state telecom operator until a property dispute is entirely resolved, two senior finance ministry sources said.

The money owed, which dates back to last decade, would provide vital funds for Pakistan's cash-strapped government, but Etisalat will not pay up until affiliate PakistanTelecommunication Co Ltd (PTCL) receives ownership of the final 10 properties out of about 3,000 it is due, the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates' top telecom company, did not respond to requests for comment. PTCL's chief executive Walid Irshaid could not be reached for comment.

An Etisalat consortium bought a 26-percent stake in PTCL for $2.6 billion in 2005 that also gave Etisalat majority voting rights.

The UAE firm paid an initial 6.6 billion dirhams ($1.80 billion) as per the deal terms, which also included transferring ownership of the properties to PTCL from the government.

Etisalat was to pay the remaining $800 million it owed in six twice-yearly installments of $133 million, but has withheld payment as the transfer of some of these properties stalled.

The dispute continues while PTCL's mobile unit Ufone, the country's No.3 operator, waits to hear if its bid for smaller rival Warid has succeeded.

The UAE firm has been working with various ministries including those for finance and privatisation since July to resolve the dispute, the two sources said.

The government had hoped to reach a final agreement by November-end, but this was now unlikely.

"It is being carried out on a fast track basis and being followed up at the highest level," said one source.

PTCL's current market value is $858 million, according to Reuters data, a little more than what Etisalat owes the government.

Etisalat owned 90 percent of the acquiring consortium, giving it a 23.4 percent stake in PTCL. The consortium's bid was $1.2 billion more than the next highest offer and Etisalat took an impairment of 2.37 billion dirhams on PTCL in 2012.

Profits at PTCL, which is majority government-owned, have slumped since Etisalat took management control and the sector was opened up for more competition.

In the financial year ending June 30, 2005, the Pakistani operator made a net profit of 27.3 billion rupees ($257.78 million), according to Reuters data, but seven years later its annual profit was 11.4 billion rupees.

Ufone had 24.8 million subscribers as of Sept. 30, giving it a market share of 19 percent, data from Pakistan's telecom regulator shows.

Etisalat rapped over bid to block du's ad campaign

The UAE’s telecoms regulator has issued a ruling against Etisalat for blocking a campaign run by competitor du to highlight the ability of customers to change mobile operators without having to amend their telephone number.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said that it had instructed Etisalat to remove a block on a short code number last Thursday (22 November), but that the telco had failed to do so, resulting in a violation decision being issued against Etisalat by the regulator.

In October, the TRA said that long-delayed plans for mobile number portability (MNP) would be introduced by December.

To highlight the announcement, du has been running a media campaign that invites consumers to send an SMS to a short code number. Consumers who sent the message would then receive an SMS from du containing information relating to MNP.

“It came to the TRA’s attention that the Short Code 3553 had been blocked by Etisalat,” the TRA said, in a statement issued on Monday. “This meant that Etisalat mobile subscribers who sent a message to the short code did not receive a response from du.  It is understood that this block has been in effect since around 21 November 2013.”

In a separate statement, du called Etisalat's action "an unfortunate turn of events", adding: "We are pleased to inform UAE residents that the SMS short code has been now restored by Etisalat following the TRA’s intervention."

The TRA initially aimed to introduce mobile phone number portability back in mid-2008, but it and the country’s operators have missed numerous deadlines in the years since.

In July this year, Etisalat and du failed to agree on a deal that would allow them to compete on fixed line services after more than four years of negotiations.

The providers, which are both majority owned by government entities, offer fixed-line, broadband and television packages, but in different territories within the UAE.

According to the TRA, mobile phone penetration in the UAE is one of the highest in the world, at over 200 percent.

UAE firm brings salmon farming to Abu Dhabi desert

(Photo for illustrative purposes only)

After golf courses in the desert and a ski slope in a shopping mall, the UAE is now turning its hand to farming cold water fish such as salmon.

That's the goal of one Abu Dhabi company which plans to farm the fish in chilled onshore pools at prices that can compete with imports flown in from Norway or Ireland.

Asmak, which already runs offshore fish farms, is harnessing technology honed in Scandinavia to set up the Middle East's first onshore fish farm in a bid to provide affordable alternatives to popular local fish such as grouper.

"Within six to eight months you will be able to eat salmon that is locally produced here," Tamer Yousef, its marketing and business development manager, told Reuters in an interview.

While Gulf companies are used to taking on the elements for projects such as golf courses and even an indoor ski slope in Dubai, Asmak's plans pose a new challenge - keeping water at a temperature of 13 degrees Celsius in a region where sea water temperatures can go up to 40 degrees.

The project, with a price tag of 100 million dirhams ($27.2 million), involved building what is dubbed a land-based recirculation aquaculture system (RSA) farm on an area of 500,000 square metres, which essentially takes sea water, chills it and then re-uses it.

"The advantage of having the farm onshore is that I will be able to control the environment so I won't have to deal with issues like high tides or acid rain effects and most importantly the elevated temperature levels," Yousef said.

While fish farming typically relies on tanks built offshore, this new onshore farming technique has been making headway in Europe and North America as it causes less harm to wild fish since there is no likelihood of spreading diseases into the sea or of farmed fish escaping into the wild.

And while some critics see the new technology as too expensive, Yousef believes the project makes financial sense.

"Even when you factor in the cost of keeping the tanks cooled, the price of locally produced salmon will be competitive with the imported salmon now available in the market," he said.

Salmon available in local markets now is flown in chilled at temperatures between -5 degrees and 0 degrees Celsius. The cost of flying the salmon from mostly Norway and Ireland is around $4 to $5 per kilogram.

Experts from these two countries will work closely with a team of local fishermen to constantly update them on international practices, Yousef said.

Still, although local salmon is set to be on the menu in a few months' time, it will take longer for the project to produce salmon of a size that would generate large revenues.

"We need at least two years to be able to harvest a salmon that is around 4 kilograms in size, which is the size that would bring the highest revenues," Yousef said.

Asmak exports its fish to over 40 countries and has offshore fish tanks across the coasts of the region in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

Hamour, the name given to the widely fished grouper of the Gulf region, will not be completely left off the table though.

The onshore farm, which will produce around 4,000 tonnes of fish a year, will also include Hamour, sea-bream and other varieties.