Dubai is located on the Persian Gulf by the United Arab Emirates Coast. Dubai is roughly at 52 feet above sea level. The Dubai Emirate shares a border with Abu Dhabi to the South, Sultanate of Oman to the Southeast and Sharjah to the Northeast. Hatta, a small part of the Emirate, is enclosed by Oman on three sides by the Ajman Emirates to the West and Ras Al Khaimah to the North. The Emirate’s Western Coast is bordered by the Persian Gulf. Dubai covers a surface area of 4,144 square kilometres.

Governance

The government of Dubai functions within the outline of a constitutional monarchy. The Al Maktoum family has ruled over the City since 1883. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the current ruler of Dubai as well as the Prime Minister of the UAE and Supreme Council of the Union Member. They choose 8 members in every two term periods to the legislative body, the Federal National Council.

In 1954, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum founded the Dubai Municipality for the basis of city planning, maintenance of local facilities and citizen services. Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the chairman of the Dubai Municipality and second-in-command Ruler of Dubai. He involves several departments like the Planning and Survey Department, the Financial Affairs Department, the Public Health Department and the Roads Department.

The Dubai Municipality in 2001, embarked on an e-Government Project with the objective of providing a web portal for forty of its city’s services. Thirteen of these services have already launched as of October 2001 and expect several others to be operational in the near future. Ras al Khaimah and Dubai are the only two Emirates that do not follow the standard United Arab Emirates Judicial System.

The Judicial courts in the Emirates composed of the Court of First instance, which consists of the civil court. The Sharia Court handles the matter between Muslims. The court of Cassation handles the matters of the law. The Criminal Court hears police complaints. The locality of Naif created the Dubai Police Force in 1956 and has Jurisdiction over the entire Emirate. They under direct command of Dubai’s Ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.

Dubai’s Economy

As of 2005, the gross domestic product of Dubai was over 37 Billion US dollars. Even though Dubai was built from their oil industry, their revenues account only 6 percent of the total revenue of the Emirate. Dubai is estimated to produce 240,000 barrels a day and considerable amount of gas from offshore fields. Dubai only has a 2% share in the United Arab Emirates revenue.

The oil reserve in Dubai has considerably diminished and is expected to last for only 20 more years. Financial services and Trade are the biggest contributors to the City’s economy. Dubai was historically an essential port for western traders. Most of the new city’s financial and banking centres were located in the port area. Dubai continued to be an important trade route through the 70’s and 80’s. Because of Dubai’s free trade in gold, the city became a hub of a smuggling of gold ingots into India in the 1990’s.

A research by the Masterard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index shows that Dubai is one of the world’s top 50 cities of the new worldwide economy hub. Dubai is believed to be a vital tourist destination as well as its port, the Jebel Ali. The Jebel Ali was made in the 70’s and became the largest man made harbour in the world.

Connecting with the World

The Dubai Airport is the main hub for Emirates Airline. They service Dubai and other emirates. In 2007, the airport has served over a total of 34 million travellers and over 260,000 flights. In 2006, the Airport is ranked 17th for total cargo traffic. A new concourse and a third terminal are under construction and are to be open in mid 2008.

The new terminal will be able to support the new Airbus A380. In Jebel Ali, they began construction on the Dubai World Central International Airport. The first phase is due to finish by 2008. The new airport will host the foreign airlines while the Dubai International Airport will solely be for the Emirate Airlines.

A big bus service in Dubai travels to over 69 routes and has transported over 90 million people. In 2006, 620 new double Decker buses will be added to its fleet announced by the Road Transport Authority. There is also a vast taxi system in Dubai other than private transportation. The Dubai Emirate has a Metro project under development with an estimated budget of over 4 billion dollars. They expect the Metro to be partially open by 2009 and operational by 2012. There will be two lines for the Metro: the red line, from airport to Jebel Ali and the green line, from Al Rashidiya to the centre. There will be 43 stations, 10 below ground and 33 above ground with 70 kilometres of tracks.

Dubai has various multicultural societies. The City was once an ethnically homogenous pearling community. This was changed when other ethnic groups arrived. Despite the variety of population only minor ethnic tension has been reported in the city.

There are many major holidays in Dubai. The Eid al Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and a national day which marks the creation of the United Arab Emirates. There are also entertainment events, like the Dubai Summer Surprises and the Dubai Shopping Festival. They attract over 4 million tourists and visitors from across the world and have over billion dollar revenue.

Dubai’s Cuisine is a reflection of its society’s cosmopolitan nature. Arab food is available everywhere in the city, from shawarma diners to upscale restaurants in many of their hotels. Chinese, South Asian cuisines and fast food are also famous and available. Pork, not illegal, is sold only to non Muslims in some areas, as well as Alcohol beverages. You need a permit to buy alcohol or any liquor except when in restaurants, bars and high class hotels.