Is Dubai Artificial

My friend the other day commented that he lived in Dubai for 3 years and during this time he continuously thought about how artificial the whole concept of living in Dubai was.

I was not sure what he meant by that so I pressed him to give me an example of what he meant. He tells me that even though Dubai is a city in the United Arab Emirates, everyone there (about 85% of the population) is a citizen of some other country. In fact, you can speak Urdu/Hindi, with ease from the Immigration Desk to the Shopping Malls and Banks, etc.

The number of buildings that have been constructed there would all be vacant had it not been for the expatriate community that comes there to work. Dubai boasts of fast highways interspersing the city that enable its residents to commute quickly. But had it not been for the expatriate community the road would be quite deserted (no pun intended).

These roads have pleasing greenery grown not by natural means (as Dubai neither has adequate rain or fresh water rivers) but by careful creation of desalination water and drip irrigation system.

My friend then pointed to the newspaper. He said that is it not odd that all crimes that are reported in the newspaper get reported with the perpetuator being caught (that even a couple of days after the crime was committed).

Finally, I said everything said and done, at least people are happy there, economically well off and saving money. He said that too is just an illusion. Firstly, even though you do not pay an income tax to the government, you are forced to rent apartments at ridiculous prices that would have enabled you to buy the apartment in Pakistan for a year’s rent. Even those apartments that are now being advertised on ownership basis are priced absurdly and are way out of the city business districts.

You do not have the luxuries of having the food cooked by your chef in the comfort of your home. Your home does not have a garden and so you don’t need a gardener to look after it. You clean your own home. So obviously, the amount of money that you would otherwise pay for all this translates into your saving.

Children’s education does not come cheap. And if you cannot drive then the bus charges, itself, can set you back a good Dh 3,000 per year or about Rs. 50,000. This would have been enough to pay for your fees and bus money in Pakistan.

Business can only be established if you pay a hefty sum of money to one who is a citizen of UAE. This automatically translates into a tax if not payable to the government then to a citizen for which the business owner does not draw any benefit.

As long as you know the downside and still would like to make Dubai your place of residence then you will not feel unsettled.