Page 266 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

248 Dubai & Co.

international seminars and training events—especially events
involving participants from both Asia and Europe.
While ease of transporting people is generally a strength of the
GCC infrastructure, there are some notable exceptions to this norm.
Saudi Arabia’s airports and immigration processes are notoriously
difficult and frustrating, involving extensive paperwork and frequent
hassles. All non-GCC-region citizens need to apply for visas at Saudi
consulates and embassies in their home countries, and business visas
require letters of invitation endorsed by the local Saudi chamber of
commerce. Women traveling alone face additional hurdles, such as
needing to be met at the airport by the party they are visiting. Even the
“direct” flight from Riyadh to New York stops once in Jeddah and
requires a tedious security process. These obstacles to easy travel
cause major frustration for businesspeople and are one reason why
multinationals prefer flying elsewhere for meetings, even if the meet-
ings relate to deals or products in Saudi Arabia.
Another transportation problem is daily traffic in Dubai. As
Dubai is built on two sides of a creek, the creek crossings and other
narrow roads create huge delays for drivers. It is customary for
people’s commute to be one hour or more each way, especially if they
reside in the nearby emirate of Sharjah, as many expatriates do. When
there are accidents or other additional delays, commuters can be
stuck for hours. Dubai is investing heavily in easing traffic as part of a
$6 billion surface transport infrastructure plan. The plan includes
roads, a tunnel, a bridge, and a light-rail system that seeks to ease
9
automobile congestion considerably. One practical challenge will
be laying out the stations in convenient locations, as Dubai currently
has little to no pedestrian culture. The daytime heat can be oppres-
sive, and walking on exposed sidewalks is done only for short dis-
tances and out of necessity. Traffic problems in Dubai are likely to
persist in the medium term, and the inconvenience of traffic delays is
one drawback to holding meetings or stationing staff in the city. Many
residents view traffic as a major quality-of-life issue in Dubai.

FLOW OF GOODS: THE BACKBONE OF
DUBAI’S DEVELOPMENT
To many, Dubai’s rise in prominence seems like a recent phenomenon,
traceable to policies of the 1990s and early 2000s. Insiders, however,