DUBAI is spending close to 1,000 billion dirhams to transform itself into a global powerhouse, with more than 25 billion earmarked for improving the city's road, traffic, and transport services.
In the pipeline are 40 tax and duty-free micro-cities, a Wall Street-style financial centre, one million new homes and the world’s biggest airport.
Emirates, the national airline, is doubling the size of its fleet, and Dubai-based firms are snapping up ports, land, hotels, and billions of pounds of commercial property.
The total spending adds up to than every single foreign dollar invested in America and China last year combined.
The building boom and accompanying growth in population has created an unprecedented demand for commercial vehicles, both to service business needs and to ease the chronic congestion on the city’s roads.
Dubai’s Road Transport Authority alone is budgeting 100 million dirhams to buy new buses, including articulated vehicles and luxury VIP buses to encourage people to use public transport.
Against this background, the first Middle East International Commercial Vehicle Show, not surprisingly, is a sell-out.
The event will be officially opened at Dubai Autodrome today (Monday November 27) by Jamal Majid Bin Thanieh, vice-chairman of Dubai World.
It runs until Thursday with more than 60 exhibitors occupying 20,000 square metres – equivalent to four football pitches.
The world’s leading manufacturers and their Middle East agents and distributors are represented, showcasing everything from trucks and buses to trailers, attachments needed by Dubai’s booming construction, transportation and logistics industries, and special-purpose items such as ambulances, fire-engines, and armoured security vehicles.
The show is organised by Zenith Events and supported by Dubai Civil Defence, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Civil Aviation, Al Awir Free Zone and the UAE Contractors Association. Opening times are 3:30-9:00 pm and free shuttle buses will ferry visitors between the Autodrome and Ras Al Khor, Jebel Ali, Barsha, Ghusais, and the Sharjah Industrial Area.
“Our new show creates a focal point for suppliers and users to experience the best in current technology and provides a meeting place to share needs and solutions,” says project manager Kavita Dabrai. “The value to both sectors is reflected in the overwhelming response we have had from prospective exhibitors and from everyone involved in the interactive industries.”
Key exhibitors include Belhasa Motors, Renault, Al Ghanim & Sons, Tata Motors, Higer King-long, Al Futtaim Motors, Mammut, Bison, Iran Khodro, Gulfcoen, Voith Turbo, Caterpillar, Al Dobowi, Wah Fai, Ocean City, Shac, Naffco, Supertech, Al Ghandi, Gulf Oil, Al Nabooda Automobiles, Eicher, and many other international brands.
