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Mohammed bin Rashid Launches Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launches the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan - WAM
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launches the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan - WAM
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Mohammed bin Rashid Launches Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launches the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan - WAM
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launches the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan - WAM

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, made the announcement on Saturday under the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan that maps out a comprehensive future map for sustainable urban development in the city.

Aligned with the UAE’s vision for the next 50 years, the Plan is focused on enhancing people’s happiness and quality of life.

The people-centric Plan focuses on reinforcing Dubai’s competitiveness as a global destination by providing a wide diversity of lifestyle and investment opportunities for citizens, residents and visitors over the next 20 years.

Designed to realize the president's vision to make Dubai the city with the world’s best quality of life, the plan aims to provide the highest standards of urban infrastructure and facilities.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the visionary development journey started by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum in the sixties continues to guide Dubai’s evolution into a city that promotes the greatest human values and possibilities and an environment where people from around the world can thrive.

"Our strategic development plans are focused on creating the best possible environment and infrastructure to enhance the community’s happiness and wellbeing and support the fulfilment of the greatest human aspirations for both our citizens and people from around the world. Drawing inspiration from global best practices and adapting them to local needs and requirements, we have created a development model that offers the best possible quality of life and creates the conditions for sustainable prosperity," he said.

"Our goal is to create a truly inclusive environment that not only meets the needs of Dubai’s diverse population, but also inspires them to tap into their creative and innovative capacities and realize their true potential," he added.

"By constantly striving to raise benchmarks and implementing diligent strategic planning, we have joined the ranks of the world’s leaders in various spheres and sectors. With a clear vision and a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in an evolving global environment, we continue to work to shape an even greater future rich with opportunities," Sheikh Mohammed noted.

The new Master Plan is the seventh such plan developed for the emirate since 1960. Between 1960 and 2020, the population of Dubai has multiplied 80 times from 40,000 in 1960 to 3.3 million by the end of 2020 and increased in cultural diversity to include people from over 200 nationalities, state news agency WAM reported.

The urban and built area of the emirate increased 170-fold from 3.2 square km in the same period.

The new Master Plan also seeks to provide sustainable and flexible means of mobility as well a foster greater economic activity and attract foreign investments to new sectors.

Other objectives include enhancing environmental sustainability, safeguarding the emirate’s cultural and urban heritage and developing a comprehensive legislation and planning governance model.

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Syria’s New Central Bank Chief Vows to Boost Bank Independence Post Assad

A bank teller counts Syrian pound banknotes at the Syrian Central Bank in Damascus, Syria, 09 January 2025. (EPA)
A bank teller counts Syrian pound banknotes at the Syrian Central Bank in Damascus, Syria, 09 January 2025. (EPA)
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Syria’s New Central Bank Chief Vows to Boost Bank Independence Post Assad

A bank teller counts Syrian pound banknotes at the Syrian Central Bank in Damascus, Syria, 09 January 2025. (EPA)
A bank teller counts Syrian pound banknotes at the Syrian Central Bank in Damascus, Syria, 09 January 2025. (EPA)

Syria's new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, said she wants to boost the institution's independence over monetary policy decisions, in what would be a sea change from the heavy control exerted under the Assad regime.

Sabreen, previously the Central Bank of Syria's number two, took over in a caretaker role from former governor Mohammed Issam Hazime late last year.

She is a rare example of a former top state employee promoted after Syria's new rulers' lightning offensive led to President Bashar al-Assad's fall on Dec. 8.

"The bank is working on preparing draft amendments to the bank's law to enhance its independence, including allowing it more freedom to make decisions regarding monetary policy," she told Reuters in her first media interview since taking office.

The changes would need the approval of Syria’s new governing authority, though the process is at this stage unclear. Sabreen gave no indication of timing.

Economists view central bank independence as critical to achieve long-term macroeconomic and financial sector stability.

While the Central Bank of Syria has always been, on paper, an independent institution, under Assad's regime the bank's policy decisions were de facto determined by the government.

Syria's central bank, Sabreen added, was also looking at ways to expand Islamic banking further to bring in Syrians who avoided using traditional banking services.

"This may include giving banks that provide traditional services the option to open Islamic banking branches," Sabreen, who has served for 20 years at the bank, told Reuters from her office in bustling central Damascus.

Limited access to international and domestic financing meant the Assad government used the central bank to finance its deficit, stoking inflation.

Sabreen said she is keen for all that to change.

"The bank wants to avoid having to print Syrian pounds because this would have an impact on inflation rates," she said.

Asked about the size of Syria's current foreign exchange and gold reserves, Sabreen declined to provide details, saying a balance sheet review was still underway.

Four people familiar with the situation told Reuters in December that the central bank had nearly 26 tons of gold in its vaults, worth around $2.2 billion, some $200 million in foreign currency and a large quantity of Syrian pounds.

The Central Bank of Syria and several former governors are under US sanctions imposed after former Assad’s violent suppression of protests in 2011 that spiraled into a 13-year civil war.

Sabreen said the central bank has enough money in its coffers to pay salaries for civil servants even after a 400% raise promised by the new administration. She did not elaborate.

Reuters reported that Qatar would help finance the boost in public sector wages, a process made possible by a US sanctions waiver from Jan. 6 that allows transactions with Syrian governing institutions.

INFLATION CHALLENGE

Analysts say stabilizing the currency and tackling inflation will be Sabreen's key tasks - as well as putting the financial sector back on a sound footing.

The Syrian currency's value has tumbled from around 50 pounds per US dollar in late 2011 to just over 13,000 pounds per dollar on Monday, according to LSEG and central bank data.

The World Bank in a report in spring 2024 estimated that annual inflation jumped nearly 100% year-on-year last year.

The central bank is also looking to restructure state-owned banks and to introduce regulations for money exchange and transfer shops that have become a key source of hard currency, said Sabreen, who most recently oversaw the banking sector.

Assad's government heavily restricted the use of foreign currency, with many Syrians scared of even uttering the word "dollar".

The new administration of de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa abolished such restrictions and now locals wave wads of banknotes on streets and hawk cash from the backs of cars, including one parked outside the central bank's entrance.

To help stabilize the country and improve basic services, the US last week allowed sanctions exemptions for humanitarian aid, the energy sector and sending remittances to Syria, although it reiterated the central bank itself remained subject to sanctions.

Sabreen said allowing personal transfers from Syrians abroad was a positive step and hoped sanctions would be fully lifted so banks could link back up to the global financial system.