{"id":20395,"date":"2012-06-21T12:53:29","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T08:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=20395"},"modified":"2012-06-21T12:53:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T08:53:40","slug":"dubai-sharjah-ajman-a-power-house-emerging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-business\/middle-east-economics-analysis\/dubai-sharjah-ajman-a-power-house-emerging\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman: A Power House Emerging"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1915, Scottish sociologist Patrick Geddes coined the term \u201cconurbation\u201d to denote a continuous urban area. Today, such conurbations can be found throughout the world \u2014 from the Washington D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region in the US, affectionately known as the DMV, to the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in India.<\/p>\n

In the UAE today, Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, that I will refer to as DSA, despite being three separate emirates, form a continuous urban area so condensed that it is quite challenging to identify exactly where one city ends and the other begins. Egyptian urban researcher and consultant with Ajman Municipality, Dr Ghada Mahmoud Hafez, calls the DSA urban continuum \u201cthe\u00a0fastest growing<\/a>\u00a0metropolitan area in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

In March 2000, the Gulf Business<\/em> magazine showed great foresight when it grouped the three separately administered DSA emirates in one single category. The magazine stated: \u201cRecent aerial photographs show vividly that there is no physical gap between Sharjah and Ajman, while the empty spaces between Dubai and Sharjah are being filled up as developers continue to build towards the common border between the two\u201d. A dozen years on and following last decade\u2019s building boom, the land gaps within the DSA have all but disappeared. Today the DSA is for all terms and purposes one single metropolis.<\/p>\n

These three emirates form a total population size of 3.25 million, according to the latest figures, which would place this conurbation roughly within the top-ten Arab cities by population. The DSA also includes some of the most prominent universities in the region, including the American Universities of Sharjah and Dubai as well as Ajman University of Science and Technology, the first private higher education institution in the Gulf. They would have a collective GDP of $100 billion (Dh367.8 billion, as of 2009, according to the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development) making the DSA conurbation roughly the eighth biggest\u00a0Arab economy<\/a>. The DSA coastline measures around 184 kilometres (excluding the 520-kilometre length of the Palm Islands) with a total area of 7,164 square kilometres.<\/p>\n

The common challenges that the DSA emirates face are even more pronounced than the rest of the country. Last spring, a major blaze was\u00a0averted<\/a>\u00a0in Sharjah when firefighters and fire engines were summoned from Dubai and Ajman to support their Sharjah colleagues. In April 2001, an oil tanker named Zainab\u00a0sank off<\/a>\u00a0the Jebel Ali, coast polluting the sealine of DSA, prompting the authorities to shut down water desalination plants causing water shortages and environmental damage. Even benign issues such as common radio frequencies and common names of districts such as Nahda and Mamzar are testimony to the proximity that these emirates find themselves in.<\/p>\n

For two decades, a significant number of expatriates who work in Dubai have chosen to reside in Sharjah, \u201cthe\u00a0bedroom<\/a>\u00a0of Dubai\u201d, and further afield in Ajman \u2014 not unlike those who work in New York, but live in New Jersey or Connecticut.<\/p>\n

There have been some commendable attempts to link the transport infrastructure within DSA such as\u00a0water taxis<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0buses<\/a>. Funding from the federal government in Abu Dhabi as well as the\u00a0Follow-up Committee<\/a>\u00a0of Initiatives of the UAE President of common infrastructure road projects along the Emirates and Bypass Roads have largely contributed towards assuaging the tense commute within the DSA, that had contributed to\u00a0increasing levels<\/a>\u00a0of road rage. For instance, during heavy traffic hours and following the completion of federal government-funded road works last year, the commute from Sharjah to Dubai was\u00a0reduced<\/a>\u00a0from 120 minutes to 70 minutes, while the commute from Ajman to Sharjah during peak hours is around 15 to 20 minutes. Many\u00a0lamented\u00a0<\/a>the lost opportunity when the highly successful and efficient Dubai Metro was not extended to Sharjah and Ajman.<\/p>\n

There are international best practice examples that the DSA can draw inspiration from such as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The WMATA is a tri-jurisdictional government agency with a\u00a0$2.3 billion budget<\/a>established in 1967 to operate transit service in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Like DSA, WMATA serves a population of 3.4 million within a 3,800-square kilometre\u00a0jurisdictio<\/a>n. A similar organisation also exists for the Atlanta metropolitan area. Closer to the UAE, India\u2019s National Capital Territory, which encompasses half a dozen jurisdictions, is implementing a\u00a0common development plan\u00a0<\/a>to coordinate transport, water supply, sanitation, housing, urban development, public health, education, welfare and environmental protection, amongst other things, whereas each of the DSA emirates has its own development plan. By coordinating their efforts these cities save money, increase efficiency and ensure a greater living standard in what can be described as a positive sum game theory.<\/p>\n

Single urban region<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DSA conurbation phenomenon is not unique to Gulf. The eastern region of the UAE is also witnessing a gradual urban integration as Fujairah, the two Dibbas, Kalba and Khor Fakkan, gradually merge into one urban continuum. In neighbouring Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil-rich eastern province, Dhahran, Khobar and Dammam are also on their way to becoming a single urban region, although the process is taking time. The Sultanate of Oman\u2019s capital, Muscat, is made up of the two merged cities of Muttrah and Muscat. In its March 2000 edition, Gulf Business also grouped Al Ain in the UAE and Al Buraimi in Oman as one city due to their proximity.<\/p>\n

Going forward, despite what has been achieved within the DSA, there is clearly a need for even more coordination between the three emirates\u2019 authorities. The DSA will benefit from forming an organisation to coordinate their efforts, save money and increase efficiency such as that of the Washington, Atlanta and Delhi authorities. Furthermore, nine out of 20\u00a0elected members<\/a>\u00a0of the Federal National Council who represent the DSA should also coordinate efforts and lobby for additional federal funding for joint infrastructure projects, including perhaps funding to extend the Dubai Metro northwards.<\/p>\n

The tri-emirate DSA conurbation must ensure advanced close coordination in issues including fire prevention and fire fighting, pollution monitoring, road and vehicle safety, waste management, mass transit and road planning. More than anywhere else in the UAE, the challenges that the DSA face are common. The solutions must therefore also be common. That will truly be a positive sum game.<\/p>\n

— xx —<\/p>\n

This article was first published in Middle East newspaper Gulf News. It is published with kind permission of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a non-resident fellow at the Dubai School of Government. You can follow him at\u00a0www.twitter.com\/SultanAlQassemi<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SULTAN AL QASSEMI: Combined the three emirates would be in the top 10 in the Arab world for population, and a GDP of $100 bn, its eight largest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,56,187],"tags":[197,211,1457,18316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}