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$ 81.0-MILLION CABLE PROJECT COMPLETED
A $ 81.0-million joint project linking the telecommunication networks of BATELCO in Bahrain, the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, ETISALAT, in the UAE, the Ministry of Communications in Kuwait and QTel in Qatar via submarine cables, has been completed. This was announced by the Fibre Optic Gulf, FOG, steering committee at a meeting held in Dubai on Sunday.
The system has the capacity to carry 180,000 simultaneous telephone calls or equivalent data circuits for each country with connection to the international submarine cable systems. The Japanese company Fujitsu Limited, designed, manufactured and installed the system, adopting SDH technology and optionally amplified repeaters, which will provide stable and reliable telecommunication services.
The Italian company Pirelli Cavi Spa supplied the submarine
and land cables, while the Emirates Telecommunications and Marine Services,
wholly-owned subsidiary of ETISALAT, provided its facilities as well as
services for marine survey and installation using the cable ship 'Umm al
Anber'. The system is planned to meet the telecommunications needs of the
four countries for many years to come and will lead to the development
of new services. (The Gulf News)
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UAE'S FIRST BUS ASSEMBLY PLANT TO BE SET UP IN DUBAI
The UAE's first bus manufacturing plant, which is also claimed to be the first of its kind in the AGCC region, will go on stream by the first quarter of 1999 in Dubai's Al Quoz area. A pioneering industrial venture by the Dubai-based Belhasa Group, the sophisticated assembling facility featuring state-of-the art technology, is being set up at a cost of Dh 30.0 million. The project, which complements Dubai's vibrant industrialisation drive, involves extensive technical input from some of the leading coach and chassis manufacturers from across the globe.
"Negotiations with various prospective partners are in the final stages, and soon we will be able to announce full details of the project that combines technologies of the West and the East to ensure a range of top-quality buses to suit the local market conditions," said Saif Belhasa, managing director of Belhasa Automotive and Equipment Division.
Belhasa Group, which has a long tradition in the automobile sector, became the first local company to launch its own brand of passenger vehicles with the recent introduction of Trans Mark I Series of 77-seater buses. The Trans series, a cross-breed between Chinese technology and Indian engineering, has been introduced to test the market pulse. It has already captured the imagination of the local market with its elegant body design and passenger-friendly interior ensuring optimum comfort and safety on the roads.
According to Belhasa, the aim of the high-tech bus assembly plant, which is to cover an area of 52,000.0 square metres, was to cater to the growing needs of the local and regional mass transportation market. "The local demand for large and medium buses with capacities ranging from 35 to over 70 seats continues to increase in tandem with the buoyant growth of the industrial and service sectors," Belhasa said.
Currently, the UAE imports between 300 and 400 large buses with seating capacities above 70, and over 300 medium buses every year to meet the requirements of schools, factories and construction companies. In addition to this, the demand for luxury coaches to ferry tourists on sight-seeing expeditions has risen dramatically in the wake of a boom in tourism and hospitality industry.
There is also a new-found demand from the growing inter-emirates bus transport service. "Our objective is to assemble world-class buses to suit the diverse requirements of not only the UAE but also the regional marketplace. While specific attention will be placed on designing the body according to strict international specifications, safety and comfort will be the prime concern," Belhasa pointed out.
Thomas Koshy, general manager of Belhasa Automotive & Equipment Division, said in the first stage, the assembling plant, which is to be set up near the group's full-fledged service facility for heavy vehicles and equipment in Al Quoz, will assemble buses for primarily transporting factory workers and schoolchildren.
In the next stage, more sophisticated versions with world-class features meant for luxury travel and tourism sector will be assembled. "While stringent quality parameters will be observed at every stage of assembling, utmost emphasis will be placed on the vehicle's adaptability to the region's environmental conditions and terrains. Besides the chassis, most of the body components will be imported from abroad to ensure unfailing functionality and standard," Koshy said.
Initially, the plant will have a capacity to assemble 25 buses a month. In the long-term, it will be raised substantially to meet the growing requirements of the Middle East and African markets. "Dubai being the prime trans-shipment hub of the region, an industry like this promises immense export potential in the long run with easy market access to countries in North Africa and the Middle East," he pointed out.
Belhasa Automotive & Equipment Division, comprising Belhasa Trading & Development Co., Belhasa Motors Co., Golden Ocean LLC., and Belhasa Service Centre and Spare Parts, is also the first in the UAE to be certified for ISO 9002. The division has showrooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and a high-tech service centre for cars and four wheel-drive vehicles in Rashidiya and another facility for trucks in Al Quoz.
Belhasa Motors is the Gulf and Middle East distributor for Ssangyong four-wheel range, Saipa saloon cars, and Halla heavy equipment and forklifts. Trans Mark I, the group's own brand of bus hailed as a forerunner to the assembling venture, is currently priced at Dh 140,000.0, and offers better value for money, Koshy said.
Assembled by a leading Indian coach manufacturer, the
chassis of the bus is supplied by China's First Automobile Group, FAW,
the seventh largest industrial enterprise in China which is into various
types of joint venture arrangements with leading automobile companies including
Volkswagen and Audi. It is currently ranked as one of the top automobile
and spares manufacturers in Asia with a turnover in excess of $ 4.0 billion
and a total vehicle output of around 270,000.0 units per year. (The Khaleej
Times, related report in the Gulf News)
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FUJAIRAH'S WADI HAYL CARVINGS POSSIBLY 3,000 YEARS OLD
A major study of rock carvings in Fujairah's Wadi Hayl and other areas in the Hajar Mountains has concluded that some of the carvings, known to archaeologists as petroglyphs, may be over 3,000 years old, according to a paper in the latest issue of the bi-annual academic journal Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy.
The paper, written by Michele Ziolkowski, of Australia's University of Sydney, reports on a group of over 60 petroglyphs near the old village in Wadi Hayl and compares these with other groups of petroglyphs from other parts of the Emirates, like Wadi Saham, Bidiya and Wadi Ashwani.
Petroglyphs, also known as rock art, have been recorded widely in the UAE, but have not previously been subjected to any detailed analytic and comparative study. As part of work by the Australian Archaeological Mission in the Emirates, however, Ziolkowski spent several weeks in the Wadi Hayl in the winter of 1996/1997, drawing, photographing and recording all of the petroglyphs to be found in the area.
Many were found to resemble animals, while others appeared to be adapted human shapes. Others still were finely drawn geometric designs, 'pecked' (hammered) onto the surface of the rock, or on to large boulders. In all, Ziolkowski and colleagues from the University of Sydney found 65 examples in Wadi Hayl, mainly in an area where there was also other evidence of previous human occupation, like derelict terraced field systems and remains of houses and other structures.
A total of 16 sites with petroglyphs have now been recorded in the UAE, all but four of which are in the Hajar Mountains or along the East Coast, but many of these have only one single petroglyph. The Wadi Hayl site is by far the most important yet recorded, the second most important being the nearby Wadi Saham, just to the west of Wadi Hayl, which has 27 examples. One of the major problems facing those who study petroglyphs is that of how they can be dated.
In the absence of any inscriptions on the rocks, Ziolkowski was obliged during her study to try to draw conclusions from comparisons with other petroglyphs throughout the UAE and southern Arabia, stretching up northwards to the rest of the Middle East. Other comparisons can be drawn from similar drawings or carvings on artefacts excavated at archaeological sites which can be safely dated by methods ranging from radiocarbon dating to the associated presence of pottery and other artefacts.
The Wadi Hayl petroglyphs are of particular interest, not merely because of the large number that have been found, but also because there is other evidence of human occupation in the valley covering a long period. While the valley is locally best known for its impressive small fortified palace and adjacent watch-tower, only abandoned in the last few decades, archaeologists, including Ziolkowski, have also found evidence stretching much further back.
On the basis of radiocarbon dating, for example, a nearby small hill-top fort has been dated to the 15th-early 18th Century AD, while items made of a locally-available softstone have been found which can clearly be compared to items found in graves dated to the local Iron Age, which lasted from around 1,300 BC to 300 BC. Potsherds have also been found going back to the Second Millennium BC.
On the basis of her comparative studies, Ziolkowski believes that some of the Wadi Hayl petroglyphs "may be as early as 1400-1100BC," with others coming from later on in the Iron Age. "It is (also) quite possible that other examples are of the late pre-Islamic ( 250 BC - 630 AD) and/or early Islamic period (seventh century AD)," she adds, going on to note that "the distinct possibility that certain rock art motifs at Wadi Hayl may be of a relatively recent date should not be discounted."
In effect, the Wadi Hayl petroglyphs may represent a gallery
of local art that stretches back over a period of more than 3,000 years,
an important, if neglected, part of the UAE's artistic heritage. As part
of studies into the Wadi Hayl, another archaeologist from Sydney is also
undertaking a detailed study of the Late Islamic settlement, including
the fortified palace and watch-tower, which are scheduled for conservation
in the future as part of Fujairah's to preserve its historic monuments.
(The Emirates News)
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Arabwide: ARAB WORLD NEEDS MAJOR ACTION TO LURE INVESTMENT
The Arab world must curb population growth, liberate women and sell off public firms if it hopes to lure global investment, the president of the Bahrain-based Investcorp said yesterday. "The global investment highway is bypassing the Arab world," Iraqi-born Nemir Kirdar, president and CEO of the international investment bank, told the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
Per capita income had declined steadily as total Arab gross domestic product (GDP) had remained largely stagnant over the past 20 years and the population had exploded at a rate of 2.8% a year, he said. Of the $ 256.0 billion in international investment worldwide in 1997, less than 2.5% reached the Arab world, he said. Unemployment was at 11.5% of the work force while youth unemployment ranged from 25.0% to 40.0%. "The first priority should be to fight against population growth. This time bomb has to be defused by strong leadership, intense education and effective communication," Kirdar said.
Investcorp, established in 1982, has headquarters also in London and New York. Investing Arab wealth in European and North American ventures, the bank has a knack for picking up firms at bargain prices and boosting their performance. In his speech Kirdar urged an overhaul of Arab schools to better prepare pupils for a competitive world market. He called for an open, transparent and well-regulated environment to draw capital investment. He also insisted on what he called "liberation of women".
"Without this, the Arab world cannot expect to move
forward. The region cannot be productive if one half of its population...
remains under-utilised and discriminated against." The privatisation
of public enterprises was an important first step towards becoming part
of the global economy, he said. "The role of governments in the Arab
world must be significantly diminished to allow the private sector to fulfil
its potential as the engine of the economy." (Reuters)
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MANGO TREES SPROUT ALONG ABU DHABI CORNICHE
The first mango trees are now visible along the new Corniche here. Although mango trees have been grown in the UAE for nearly ten years, the trees that line the new Corniche are among the first to be successfully grown from cuttings or by grafting. Horticulturists say that the mango trees grown from cuttings will flower in approximately two years but, to insure that they yield healthy fruit over the coming years, they will not be allowed to flower too soon.
There are also plans to grow jackfruit in the UAE, a fruit commonly found in India. Two species of mangoes now grow in the UAE. The first to be imported was the Langra variety from Mumbai, and the second the Malgoa from Pakistan. Both species have adapted well to the saline conditions of the UAE's soil but there are no plans to export the fruit - as yet. (The Gulf News)
