Emaar Properties
is planning to hire 1,600 new employees for its hospitality and entertainment divisions. These new hires will work in the KidZania, SEGA Republic and 22-screen REEL Cinema at Dubai Mall over the next three months.
Mohammed Alabbar
, Emaar's chairman, said that the hiring spree was part of the company's diversification plans during the slow-down. AFP did a full write-up
.
Speaking of strategy, an analysis of the UAE's six public property companies by The National
shows the developers are falling into three groups
: those pushing ahead with radical business changes like
Deyaar Development
and
Sorouh Real Estate
; those taking a more cautious approach to change like
Emaar Properties
and
Aldar Properties
; and those that are having difficulty navigating the dampened market including
Union Properties
and
RAK Properties
.
Eugene Harnan reports in The National that
while tourists seem to be enjoying the new Palm Jumeirah monorail, residents of the palm are not
. Robert Lee, managing director of
RetailCorp
(under the umbrella of
Nakheel
) explains that "it is used mostly as a tourist ride than a transport solution", but doesn't seem to acknowledge the reason is that Dh25 roundtrip price. If a resident were to use it every weekday - to and from their house - it would cost Dh500 a month or Dh6,000 a year! Just by way of comparison, the New York City subway price just rose to US$89 a month (or $1,068 a year). So it is $565 cheaper in New York, where you can travel anywhere in the city, than the Palm Jumeirah Monorail, which has only two functioning stops.
