Essay

Traffic congestion and parking problems in Abu Dhabi.

Problem & solution essay.

Traffic congestion and parking problems are faced by most large cities around the world, and Abu Dhabi is no exception. In particular, parking is a major problem here in Abu Dhabi.The main overall reason for these problems in Abu Dhabi is the rapidly expanding population. More people means more drivers and thus more cars on the roads. Many of these drivers are young and inexperienced which means more accidents and more hold-ups. Another factor is Abu Dhabi's rapid economic development over the past few decades. Abu Dhabi’s wealth is based on oil and huge sums of petrodollars have financed a remarkable expansion of the city’s infrastructure: roads, bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, port facilities, banks, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, service industries, hotels, high-rise buildings, numerous and varied construction ventures, including man-made islands such as Rheem and Sadiyat, not to mention the F1 island of Yas, with its, by now, world-famous motor racing circuit, along with Ferrari World, hotel complexes and so on.. This economic and industrial expansion has transformed the city over the past thirty or forty years; indeed Abu Dhabi is unrecognizable from what it was forty years ago. More commercialization and industrialisation inevitably means more business and so more commercial vehicles, many of them large and slow-moving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi

The economic expansion and consequent growth in traffic is likely to continue. Strong government spending, especially in Abu Dhabi, and improved consumer confidence will boost private consumption. The Abu Dhabi 202=30 plan aims to develop the emirate as a manufacturing hub, with the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone providing essential infrastructure. A virtually tax-free environment and good infrastructure will lead to foreign workers returning after a fall in the expatriate population in 2009. Even if oil prices failed to reach forecast levels, ‘the Abu Dhabi government would be able to use its vast overseas investments to sustain public spending’ (http://country.eiu.com=1674940018country=UnitedArab Emirates).

There are also now many more new, high-rise buildings but they haven't all been constructed with adequate parking space and this has led to massive parking problems in the business district. The fact that Abu Dhabi is an island with limited space for transport development has further added to the problem. Dubai has developed a metro system to ease traffic flow, but there is less space on the island of Abu Dhabi for a similar rail system.

There is thus a massive traffic and parking problem facing the city of Abu Dhabi. What are the possible solutions? One obvious solution is to improve the existing road network by constructing more bridges, overpasses and underpasses to ease traffic flow. Another possible solution is to improve public transport, with better bus services and a new rail network, as in Dubai with its new metro. Yet another possibility is for the authorities, as in Singapore, to make motoring more expensive, through higher registration fees, restrictions on where and when motorists may use their cars, etc. Another answer often suggested is to relocate government buildings, ministries, embassies and so on off-island. There have also been reports that the authorities are planning to introduce a road-toll system in Abu Dhabi to reduce the number of cars on the road. http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traffic-transport/abu-dhabi-plans-to-introduce-road-toll

The first solution is already underway, an example being the recently opened underpass on Salam Street, near Khalifa Park. Roads can be, and are being, widened and improved. Similarly, public bus services have been much improved recently. A few years ago most buses in Abu Dhabi were old, poorly maintained and badly driven, but recently newer, safer, more reliable bus services have been introduced. The problem with regard to thr second possible solutiom, that of imposing greater restrictions on motorists, is that many people will see them as an attack on individual liberty and no doubt they would prove unpopular, at least to begin with. What works in Singapore will not necessarily work here in Abu Dhabi. It would be possible to introduce new legislation, for example to raise the age limit for driving licence application, increasing parking/speeding fines and so forth, but a major problem is the enforcement of such laws. There has been a recent drive to solve parking problems by introducing paid parking but there have been many complaints about the cost, fairness and effectiveness of parking permits. With regard to solving parking problems, the existing rules regarding new buildings having adequate parking space, preferably underground, must be strictly enforced. It’s of little use to have regulations if they are not rigorously enforced.

As we can see, it’s easy to list possible solutions to Abu Dhabi’s traffic and parking problems but rather more difficult to ascertain which are likely to be most effective and viable.

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi

http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=167494001&country=United Arab Emirates

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traffic-transport/abu-dhabi-plans-to-introduce-road-toll-to-reduce-traffic-congestion-1.62014

651 words.

E-mail

Project

The innovation which has transformed my professional life in recent years is the e-mail. At ADMC we faculty live and die by electronic mail. We send, every day, e-mails to people who are only a few desks away. In the past we would have gone to see these people in person or written hard copy notes to leave on their desks.

Electronic mail predates the inception of the Internet, and was in fact a crucial tool in creating the Internet. MIT first demonstrated the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) in 1961. It allowed multiple users to log into the IBM 7094 from remote dial-up terminals, and to store files online on disk. This new ability encouraged users to share information in new ways. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. Although the exact history is murky, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail).

So e-mail has been around a long time but it is only in the last 10-15 years that it has played a part in my professional development.In fact, all aspects of life have been changed by e-mail. When I first went to Brunei (we landed in Bandar Seri Begawan, or BSB, the capital, on 1st January, 1980) there was no widely available worldwide web. No-one had a computer. E-mails were unheard of. There were no projectors in classrooms. There weren't even whiteboards or airconditioning units in classrooms. I used chalk on a blackboard. And this was in the Pusat Tingkatan Enam (Sixth Form Centre), at that time the leading academic institution in the whole country. We didn't even have air-conditioning in our staff room, and papers had to be weighted down on desks to prevent them being blown away by the fans.

The contrast with the situation here today in ADMC is striking. Every classroom has a/c, projectors, smartboards, whiteboards. http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet/. I can communicate with all my students by e-mail; getting them to check and read their e-mails is a different matter.

E-mails have transformed not just my professional life but all aspects of life in general. Increasingly people in their everyday lives, as well as their professional ones, are switching from old-fashioned letter writing to e-mail. It would appear to be an inexorable progression from hard to soft copy. When, in 1986, I was studying for my Licentiate Diploma in TESOL with Trinity College, London, (http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/), I received work modules by airmail, and returned the completed work likewise. It would take weeks for work to arrive, be completed, returned to London, get marked and sent back. The same tasks could be completed today by e-mail in a fraction of the time. The world has been transformed by electronic mail.

503 words


Bibliography:

"E-mail." En.wikipedia.org. http://www.google.com/. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.

"E-learning." www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.

http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/

Magazine summary

England and Wales's welfare ghettos

The coalition government in Britain, led by Conservative leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron, has pledged to cut back welfare payments as part of its austerity package designed to deal with the mountain of debt inherited from the previous Labour government.

This article discloses research which suggests that the problem of welfare dependency has become endemic in certain areas and is getting worse, rather than better. Nearly 2 million people have been claiming out-of-work benefits for more than five years. this new research examines the smallest measurable units recorded by the Department for Work & Pensions, which contain about 1,000 people.

The North of England and South Wales are where most welfare ghettos are to be found. England's benefit capital is Central & Falinge in Rochdale, north-west England. It has one of the lowest average lofe expectancies in the UK and a higher proportion of incapacity benefit claimants than anywhere else in England: 84% are state-dependent, 77% on out-of-work benefits alone. Those who do work do so for drugs gangs, or for cash in hand, while continuing to claim benefits.

Rochdale Development Agency has spent millions on various schemes but to little effect so far.

195 words

Howker, Ed. "Spectator Exclusive: Britain's Welfare Ghettos." The Spectator 10 Oct. 2010. Web.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6359323/spectator-exclusive-britains-welfare-ghettos.thtml

Economic growth forecasts

In the portal, I accessed Library & Resources., then clicked on databases & e-books. I selected Countries & Cultures and then the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). I opted for Middle East/Africa and chose 3 Gulf countries, Bahrain, Qatar & the UAE. For each country, I selected the economic growth forecast. I then printed out the 3 reports, producing a word document of 1,034 words. This is the summary.

Economic growth in Bahrain will average 4.2% in 2010-11. Expansion in 2009 was only 3.1%, according to government data, due to lower regional growth and a decline in foreign investment and trade flows. Unemployment will rise in 2010. The number of Bahraini nationals in employment fell by 1% in the first quarter of 2010 but overall employment, including expatriates, rose by 1.2%. Government spending will slow in 2011. Investment will be underpinned by government spending in 2010 but, with global recovery, foreign investment should rise in 2011.

Qatar avoided recession in 2008-09 and the economy will expand in 2010-11 because of two things: first, the global recovery and, secondly, the near doubling of LNG production. The main concern is the fall in demand for LNG in Asia and the USA, and profit margins will be squeezed, ‘but Qatar’s dominant position in the market and low production costs should enable it to maintain export volumes’ (http://country.eiu.com=467427431&country=Qatar). The Al Shaheen oil field will expand and the Pearl GTL (gas to liquids) will boost growth in 2011. High government spending on education, health and transport will be maintained. Population growth, including immigration, will support domestic demand. Real GDP growth will surge to 19999.4% in 2010, dropping to 15.9% in 2011.

Real GDP growth in the UAE, by contrast, will average only 4.6% 2010-14, lower than the previous 5 years but ‘respectable by international comparison’. Oil will not be the only driver of growth. Dubai will shift focus from real estate and financial services to ‘building trade and tourism' (hhtp://country.eiu.com-167494001&country=UnitedArabEmirates). Strong government spending, especially in Abu Dhabi, and improved consumer confidence will boost private consumption. The Abu Dhabi 202=30 plan aims to develop the emirate as a manufacturing hub, with the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone providing essential infrastructure. A virtually tax-free environment and good infrastructure will lead to foreign workers returning after a fall in the expatriate population in 2009. Even if oil prices failed to reach forecast levels, ‘the Abu Dhabi government would be able to use its vast overseas investments to sustain public spending’ (http://country.eiu.com=1674940018country=UnitedArab Emirates).

342 words

Bibliography

http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=467427431&country=Qatar http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=1817422766&country=Bahrain
http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=167494001&country=United Arab Emirates

Research 1

Bibliography:

Kharma, N., & Hajjajj, A. (1989). Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis and Remedy. Essex: Longman. pp. 137 - 142

(1) Who did the original research? Kharma, N & Hajjajj, A
(2) What was the name of the book? Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers
(3) Who was the publisher? Longman
(4) Where was the book published? Essex
(5) When was the book published? 1989
(6) What format has been used? MLA