VZCZCXRO0493
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHAD #0920/01 2271343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141343Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1330
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 7898
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000920 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP BMASILKO, NEA/PI, NEA/PPD 
ALSO FOR OES, EEB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD EIND SENV PGOV AE US
SUBJECT: ABU DHABI MEGA PROJECTS: A CITY'S EVOLVING IDENTITY 
 
REF: A) Dubai 271, B) Dubai 272 
 
ABU DHABI 00000920  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) The UAE capital and the richest of the seven emirates, Abu 
Dhabi accounts for approximately 9% of the world's oil reserves.  In 
the last few years, Abu Dhabi has undertaken a "catch up game" with 
Dubai in the area of Mega Project development, with a number of 
large-scale projects under way, billions of dollars invested, and 
uncertainty as to the viability, sustainability, and social 
implications of the projects.  While Abu Dhabi is a relatively 
quiet, potentially elegant coastal city with lush landscaping and an 
orderly layout (in comparison to Dubai's more boisterous, congested, 
random expansion amid heavy construction on all sides), the Mega 
Project bandwagon may drastically change the Abu Dhabi allure and 
ambience.  This is the first of a series of planned cables related 
to on-going project development in Abu Dhabi.  Subsequent cables 
will explore specific projects, analyze forces and persons behind 
the development, and examine in greater depth the socio-economic 
implications of Mega Project development.  End summary. 
 
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ABU DHABI 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, by far the largest of the UAE's 
seven emirates, is comprised of extensive desert lands and 
approximately 200 coastal islands in close proximity to the 
mainland.  The capital city of Abu Dhabi is built on an island, with 
two bridges connecting it to the mainland (a third under 
construction and others under discussion).  The late Sheikh Zayed, 
founding father of the UAE, put great effort into laying out and 
landscaping thoroughfares, creating public parks, and building 
modest high rises on a sandy island that had virtually no 
significant development in the pre-oil years.  By the 1980's, Abu 
Dhabi had an established skyline, expanded in the 1990's and beyond 
with an extended waterfront, a smattering of higher buildings, a 
large mall on reclaimed land connected by a causeway, home-grown 
universities, royal estates on select waterfront properties, and 
extensive housing developments in the mainland "suburbs." 
 
¶3.  (U) At some point in this development, a pleasant city began to 
show signs of excessive growth.  The breakdown of orderly parking in 
the downtown area was one sign of poor planning as the city grew 
beyond its natural "carrying capacity."  The housing shortage has 
been intense in recent years as ambitions of oil-boom construction 
outstrip infrastructure.  The (literally) palatial Emirates Palace 
Hotel, built at a cost of $2 billion, opened in spring 2005 to host 
the December GCC Summit and is lavishly appointed beyond anything 
commercially viable.  Its opening marked the "arrival" of Abu Dhabi 
as a competitor to the more glitzy Dubai.  Its opulence helps define 
the "new" Gulf identity. (Visitors are informed that everything in 
the Emirates Palace Hotel that looks gold is gold.)  More hotels, an 
expanded Exhibition Center, and ambitious business minds solidified 
Abu Dhabi's role as a convention capital of the region -- along with 
Dubai -- filling hotel rooms often to over capacity. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Yet, this is only the beginning.  The bigger dreamers are 
just getting started.  Oil money is flowingand the more traditional 
approach of Sheikh Zayed (who died in November 2004) has given way 
to a construction free-for-all (including the cutting of many of the 
trees that Zayed nurtured so carefully).  The elite want to 
consolidate fortunes amid uncertainty over future oil prices, and 
UAE society is getting a taste of the "Emirates Palace" life style 
as a new standard of living (and expectation).  Driven by economic 
excitement, "Abu Dhabi 2030" is an ambitious plan of zoning and 
development with schematics that show a glistening future city on 
land that is still open desert.  The Abu Dhabi of 15 years hence 
will no doubt be a fascinating contrast to the UAE capital of today, 
which is already a far cry from the modern but tranquil Abu Dhabi of 
15 years ago.  A synopsis of some of the more ambitious projects 
under development follows.  Subsequent cable will describe the 
projects in more detail. 
 
AMBITION ON PARADE 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) As Abu Dhabi's ambitions expand, significant projects 
under way include the following: 
 
--- Yas Island is focused on entertainment on the outskirts of Abu 
Dhabi with theme parks, a Formula-1 track, golf, marinas, and 
residential zones.  With an estimated price tag of $40 billion and a 
near-term goal of hosting a Formula-1 race in October 2009, the 
project is under huge pressure to perform. 
 
--- Saadiyat Island, a cultural zone just a bridge away from 
downtown Abu Dhabi, will feature a series of upscale museums 
 
ABU DHABI 00000920  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
(Guggenheim, Louvre, Maritime, and National Heritage museums), along 
with performing arts centers and other cultural and recreational 
offerings.  Environmentally friendly residential areas, marinas, 
wetlands, and lagoons (interspersed with the western pleasures of 
golf and other sports) will round out the $30 billion project. 
Highways and bridges will expand access points to Abu Dhabi. 
 
--- Lulu Island is a prominent (largely man-made) sandbar within 
view of the Abu Dhabi Corniche (the city's main waterfront and focal 
point of its skyline).  A vision of turning Lulu into an amusement 
park, as well as talk of commercial, residential, cultural and 
recreational facilities, has been circulating for years.  Plans at 
present involve $11 billion worth of holiday-zone development. 
 
--- Al Raha Beach is known to many as a development on the way to 
Dubai, but is now a field of construction cranes.  The vision of 11 
different "districts" with up to 120,000 residents is well under way 
in this $15 billion dream. 
 
--- The Cleveland Clinic has been engaged by the Emirate of Abu 
Dhabi to design and staff a full-service clinic-hospital (at 
undisclosed cost) to provide an overseas standard of treatment to 
UAE national and international patients.  With state-of-the-art, 
world-class amenities, 360 beds and 2.5 million square feet, the 
envisioned hospital even boasts an energy-efficient design.  (For 
more than a year a team from the Cleveland Clinic has administered 
Abu Dhabi's premier existing health care facility, the Sheikh 
Khalifa Medical Center.) 
 
--- Masdar City proposes to house over 50,000 residents and numerous 
technological research and development facilities in a "magnet city" 
for alternative energy research that will itself produce zero carbon 
emissions.  The 100% environmentally friendly theme will challenge 
the consumer culture of the Emirates, yet hopes to enhance the 
world's energy options for a mere $22 billion initial investment. 
 
--- Peaceful Nuclear Power development, with a price tag of at least 
$15 billion, is also under way under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi 
Executive Affairs Authority (which will pass the project to a 
spin-off agency once construction begins), with a goal of ensuring 
reliable power to light up the many development schemes of this 
ambitious nation. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment:  These Mega Projects will consume enormous 
outlays of financial resources and human capital even when taken 
individually.  When viewed as a whole, and in the context of "Abu 
Dhabi 2030" plans, they represent the increasingly turbo-charged 
nature of Abu Dhabi development in a small, immensely affluent Gulf 
nation which feels it is coming into its own in an "Arabian 
Renaissance."  Ambitions are fed by petrol dollars in this oil-rich 
emirate, and some recalibration should be expected if oil prices 
fluctuate.  Aggressive project timelines over the next five to ten 
years also put great pressure on a limited population base, and some 
adjustment of deadlines can be anticipated as reality sets in and 
performance standards become apparent.  Nonetheless, for now the 
dreams are many and the possibilities are perceived by key UAE 
players as almost limitless.  Embassy will take a sober look at the 
potential impact of Abu Dhabi Mega Projects in subsequent messages. 
End comment. 
QUINN