Middle East

Despite its 4,000-year-old history, Egypt’s capital Cairo is a city that refuses to spend too long looking in the rearview mirror. With its greater metropolitan now home to 20 million people - making Cairo one of the world’s megacities - the city and its people continue to look to the future. A good example of this is the city’s metro system, Africa’s first urban railway, the first of three full-fledged metro systems built in Africa, as well as the first in the Arab world.

When Qatar won the bid to host the 22nd FIFA World Cup™ in 2010 ahead of bids from heavyweights like the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, many wondered if this beautiful yet very small country would be able to take on the challenge of hosting the greatest sporting event on the planet and will Qatar have everything ready on time to welcome over 1.2 million visitors from over 200 countries to a nation with a population of about 1.6 million people at the time.

Given the enormous mineral resources in the MENA region with countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, it may surprise some to learn that the first major hydrocarbon producer in the region was Egypt. The country’s oil production goes as far back as the second half of the 19th century, at a time when it was both energy self-sufficient and an exporter of hydrocarbons. Even today, oil and gas production is the single largest economic activity in the country.

Anyone who has read about World War I in any depth will be familiar with the Battle of Çanakkale - also known as the Gallipoli Campaign. When British and French forces attacked Istanbul in an attempt to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, they got quite a lot more than they bargained for. The Turkish resistance was so mighty that it became encapsulated in the now common Turkish phrase: “Çanakkale is impassable.” And now, over a century later, it gives its name to a megaproject.

Over the past 50 years, Abu Dhabi and its sister emirates in the UAE have provided the world with an example of how well-planned sustainable investments can bring a country from being a relative outsider to the foreground. A series of national strategic plans, the latest of which runs to 2030, have ensured the emirate has never rested on what it has already achieved.

It’s befitting then, that a vibrant and confident young city should have a transport system fit for the 21st century. Thanks to NTA, that’s finally becoming a reality. NTA - Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. is an Israeli government-owned company in charge of the design, construction and implementation of the mass transit system in Tel Aviv metropolitan area, set for full delivery in the next six to seven years.

If there’s any industry in the Middle East which has generated more column inches than the oil industry over the past 15 years, it’s unquestionably construction. The past decade and a half has brought a wave of development, and with it, some of the world’s most high-profile new buildings to the region.

Gulf Related: A powerful joint venture with a bold vision

Gulf Related is the latest in a growing line of impressive companies rising in the Middle East combining financial acumen and real estate wizardry. Long associated with oil wealth, the region is now producing companies in areas as diverse as technology, education, renewable energy and development. Into that last category comes Gulf-Related, a real estate company based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

Successful collaboration could be said to be the unifying link between all successful projects. In a recent interview with Kevin Ryan, COO for developer Gulf Central, he was keen to stress the role of Brookfield Multiplex in the Al Maryah Central project in Abu Dhabi. Notably, Mr. Ryan commented how long Gulf Related spent looking for a partner before deciding Brookfield Multiplex was ideal.

In the coming five years, it is believed that Riyadh, the ancient capital city of Saudi Arabia, will become the biggest city in the Middle East after Istanbul, reaching a population of 10 million. The arrival of its metro in 2018 is well timed then, promising to create a far more fluid transport system in this burgeoning city.