DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — There was a time when Dubai’s annual property fair was a gilded stage for the ruling sheik to unveil his latest, anything-goes dreams: the world’s tallest towers, canals in the desert and artificial islands in the sea. As this year’s fair begins today, the global recession has downsized those visions and taken much of the boomtown bravado from the city-state’s CEO-style ruler.
The shift reflects Sheik Mohammed bin Ra shid Al Maktoum’s passage from big-ticket visionary to more cautious steward of the gulf emirate’s sand-to-skyscraper transformation.
“Nobody is talking about grand projects or being No. 1 anymore,” said Abdul-Khaleq Abdullah, a political-science lecturer and Dubai native.
Although Mohammed has been credited for Dubai’s makeover, which was fueled by borrowed money and surplus cash from the Persian Gulf’s oil profits, he has yet to assume responsibility for the property bust.
A year after Dubai became the gulf’s biggest credit-crunch victim, dozens of gleaming new towers that mark the city’s skyline stand empty.
