Ever since the formation of the UAE; improvements in existing infrastructure – whether roads, airports, seaports, housing, telecommunications, energy supply or other elements vital to efficient, functioning urban communities – have been high on the Government’s agenda and have featured prominently in urban planning. Strategies such as Plan Abu Dhabi 2030, Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, and Sharjah’s Vision 2020 are perfect examples of the UAE’s approach to planning-led development. The Abu Dhabi plan balances the need to manage growth and foster tourism and trade while preserving the city’s cultural heritage and natural environment.

The Dubai strategy defines its goals in terms of urban planning, energy, electricity and water, roads and transportation, and the environment. Sharjah’s urban planning focuses on the improvement of urban and community developments as well as boosting tourism, drawing more students to its academic institutions and promoting trade and investment.

Transport
Public transportation has been a high priority in all emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are in the process of building some of the most comprehensive public transit systems in the world, aiming to boost the use of public transport significantly and relieve traffic congestion. In 2009, the inauguration of Dubai’s first metro line and the Palm Jumeirah Monorail marked a real milestone in UAE urban planning. A 14.5-kilometre tram service is also under construction along Al Sufouh Road, from Duabi Marina to the Burj al-Arab hostel and the Mall of the Emirates. Additionally, a 1200-kilometre freight rail netweok will be built to span the entire length of the emirates.

Airports are also key focus of urban-planning initiatives. In 2008, Abu Dhabi international was named the fastest-growing international airport in the world. In March 2009, Etihad Airways completed its transfer of flights to the new Terminal 3, built at a cost of Dh1.1 billion (US$299.7 mn), which has increased capacity at the airport by another five million passengers a year.

Dubai Airport broke the forty-million passenger mark in 2009, making it the sixth-largest international airport by throughout. Dubai has opened a dedicated Emirates Airline Terminal 3 and is building a third concourse to handle Emirates’ A380 Superjumbo fleet. New airports on the drawing board or under construction include Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali and Ajman International Airport.

Marine ports are pivotal to the region’s economic well-being. Abu Dhabi’s Mina Zayed, otherwise known as Abu Dhabi Terminals, is to be replaced by a much larger Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone. After becoming a victim of its own success, with heavy queues and long wait times for vessels recorded in late 2008, Dubai’s Jebel Ali, the largest port in the Middle East and the busiest container terminal between Asia and Europe, has introduced a number of new improvements to increase efficiency. Sharjah’s east-coast port at Khor Fakkan upped its capacity by 33 per cent to four million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs in 2009. Ra’s al-Khaimah continues to improve Mina, Saqr, the first deep-water port in the Gulf. The port of Fujairah, the second-largest oil-bunkering facility in the world, is also expanding; in September 2009 it awarded contracts to add additional berthing capacity for oil tankers at Oil Terminal 2.

Electricity and Water
The UAE continues to build up power capacity in order to keep pace with rapidly growing electricity consumption; peak rates jumped 11.3 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 6.3 per cent in Dubai during 2009. Water supply is also a constant concern, with about 98 per cent of consume water produced by desalination.

Abu Dhabi secured Dh7.89 billion (US$2.15 bn) in financing for the massive Shuweihat 2 1600-megawatt (MW) power and 100 million gallons per day (mgd) desalination plant. Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEa) is also planning its ninth Independent Water and Power Project since the sector was opened up to partial privatization in 1998.

In addition, ADWEA continued to work on a 200-MW Fujairah 2 power station, which will be fuelled by gas supplied via a pipeline from Taweelah, north-east of Abu Dhabi, and is due to be completed by the end of 2010. This will supply power both to Abu Dhabi and to the grid in the northern emirates. The attached desalination plant will also supply 130 mgd of water to Al Ain and Fujairah.

During the year, ADWEA boosted exports of electricity to Sharjah by 70 per cent, and in November 2009, H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zyaed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, donated Dh1 billion (US$272 mn)  to the emirates for infrastructure development especially new power-generating capacity.

In Dubai, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority introduced a new 611-MW capacity plant at Jebel Ali an expects to complete the Jebel Ali M Station, with a water-production capacity of 140 mgd, during 2010.

Nuclear Energy
The UAE believes that the most environmentally friendly and sustainable solution to its energy requirements is electricity generated by nuclear plants and a major nuclear energy programme is under way, with the full support of the international community. Nuclear reactors are destined to become the UAE’s second most important source of energy in the UAE after natural gas, producing about 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity by 2020 and ensuring the continued economic development of the nation.

The first of four 1400-MW units is scheduled to begin providing electricity to the grid in 2017. Safety-related construction of the inaugural unit will commerce in 2012 and the four reactors will be completed by 2020.

Telecommunications
Today, telecommunications across all platforms in the UAE are fast and effective, with fixed-line, internet and mobile connectivity among the best in the world, making it an ideal digital hub for the Middle East region. This was underlined in the latest edition of the ‘Global Information Technology Report’, produced by the World Economic Forum, which lists the UAE as twenty-seventh its networked Readiness Index 2008-09 ranking it out as one of the highest-rated networked economies in the world, and the highest in the Gulf.

Etisalat remains the UAE’s biggest telecom provider and is expanding internationally on a dramatic scale. It is now the world’s sixteenth-largest telecommunications firm, and its international subscriber base is in the region of 100 million, with operations covering nearly two billion people across eighteen markets around the world.

Meanwhile, communications company du, which offers voice, data and entertainment on mobile networks and converged broadband, TV, and landline, is concentrating primarily on buildings its domestic customer base and has gained a 32 per cent share of the UAE mobile phone market of 10.3 million subscribers.

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company Prisc (Yahsat), the UAE’s first nationally owned satellite operator, will launch the Yahsat 1A satellite in October 2010, and is scheduled to launch the Yahsat 1B satellite in the first half of 2010. This will enable Yahsat to offer a satellite broadband service, ‘Yahclick’, throughout the satellite’s range.
The Etisalat majority-owned Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company, a provider of satellite-based mobile telephone services through dual-mode handsets and satellite payphones, launched a third geosynchronous satellite in 2008. Thuraya 3 replaces the ageing Thuraya 1, while Thuraya 2 will continue to provide coverage for the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and some other markets. Thuraya 3 brings countries of the Asia-Pacific region, including such major markets as China, Australia, Japan, Korea and Indonesia, under Thuraya’s  footprint and extends its coverage to nearly two-thirds of the global population. In 2009, Thuraya also launched its new ruggedly practical handheld phone, the Thuraya XT.