The registration number, AB11 DHB, was originally bought for about£400 (Dh2,300) and could now possibly fetch more than Dh1.7 million, according to MIK Legal Consulting, the Dubai company that is handling the auction.

M I Khan, head of the company, said he was “not surprised” at how the sale was going. “Abu Dhabi motoring enthusiasts are the most passionate in the world,” he said.

He said the reserve price of £25,000 was crossed within a few hours.

He dispelled suggestions that Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, was among the seven bidders, saying only that the bidders were “private enthusiasts” with “some big names involved”.

“There is a little bit of speculation that two of the current bidders are trying to purchase this plate with the plan to gift it to his highness,” he said.

The plate’s current owner bought it from the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency with the intention of a “big sale”, according to Mr Khan.

Paolo Rossetti, a UAE car expert, said that while spending so much on a number plate might seem a “narcissistic folly”, it “actually translates into a smart business decision”.

“If the UAE-based VIP number plate auctions are any guide, the winning bidder can expect the value to appreciate over the next few years,” he said.

The sale will close on February 19.

molson@thenational.ae

Courtesy Google

The Department of Transport at ADP, as part of its efforts to reduce pollution and maintain a clean environment, has completed the transfer of more than the required percentage (10 per cent of the total) at the start of the application last year, spending $511 per vehicle.

Major General Khaleel Dawood Badran, director general of Finance and Services at ADP, said that this was achieved in the year 2011. ADP received two certificates from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) for being the first government entity starting to implement the transfer of 25 per cent of the total number of vehicles of government agencies to use natural gas for vehicles. The second certificate was for the first government agency that completed the ratio required for the year 2011 on time.

Brigadier General Jumaa Ahmad Hamel Qubaisi, director of the Department of Transport, added that the transfer of vehicle engines was completed in more than the required number and he would start using natural gas from the beginning of the year.

He said that according to the plan, 15 per cent of the total vehicles at the General Headquarters of Abu Dhabi Police will be transferred in the next phase.

He noted that the use of natural gas in vehicles is one of the most efficient alternative fuels for vehicles, in addition to technical advantages and environmental care. It contributes to the reduction of pollution and cuts vehicle maintenance rate, increasing its useful life span.

Col Ahmed Mohammed Al Shibli, deputy director of the Department of Transport, said that its use shall be effective for more than 50 years and there are already about 13 million cars running on natural gas in about 80 countries.

Courtesy Google

MEISR was attended by a crowd of senior military and political leaders and diplomats of the countries of the region and the world, as well as senior officials and military attaches, experts and managers of defense companies in the region.

Riad Kahwaji, INEGMA CEO, opened the conference by welcoming the audience to the second ISR annual conference. He thanked the UAE Ministry of Defense, represented by a distinguished delegation led by His Excellency Major General Mohammed Al-Essa, for being the Patron for MEISR 2012, as he also thanked the UAE Armed Forces Chief of Staff and the Air Force and Air Defense for their support. He also welcomed the Armed Forces’ participants from all services and directorates in this event.

Kahwaji stated: “Recent technological advances have helped ISR evolve and enabled the Armed Forces to overcome many challenges. However, technology has been at the service of both the good and the bad, and hence challenges and threats have also continued and often in a different form or shape. Nonetheless, risks remain big and efforts continue to either contain or overcome them.” He added, “In line with its mission statement, INEGMA has chosen ISR as a main topic for its chain of defense conferences out of its appreciation to the importance of this subject to regional militaries of the Middle East, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council.” Major General Mohammed Al-Essa of the UAE Ministry of Defense, gave the keynote speech stating: “We meet here today under one roof to discuss one of the most important and delicate military topics with minimum efforts and minimum losses possible on both civil and military sides. We are also here to listen to specialists and to learn more about their latest expertise and solutions in this field. We will also study the recommendations that came as a result in this conference where we all share a common vision in combating global terror and spreading international peace and stability.” He added, “We, in the United Arab Emirates work under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai and His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, seek to develop our defense capabilities and we do not only seek advanced techniques that will help us achieve our goal but we also look forward to gaining experience and through communications, with our brothers and friendly countries, exchange experiences with them through these kinds of conferences and through joint exercises and meetings.” –MORE– WAM/MN

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Abu Dhabi, Feb 5: India Social Cultural Centre (ISC), Abu Dhabi hosted a 3-day ‘India Fest 2012′ at their premises in Abu Dhabi, inaugurated by M K Lokesh,ambassador of India to UAE on Thursday February 2 at 8 pm.

Chief guest Lokesh took a tour of the India fest fair through the stalls of exhibitors along with the President of ISC Ramesh Panicker, Cultural Secretary of the Embassy of India, Anuka Chakravarty who was instrumental in bringing cultural troupe from India, Sudhir Kumar Shetty, CEO Global – UAE Exchange Centre, Yogesh Prabhu, Honorary Treasurer and M Jayaram Rai, Honorary Auditor and other co-members of the executive board of ISC.

India Fest 2012 is being supported by Cultural Wing of Embassy of India and hosted by ISC with Gemini Building Materials as the Title Sponsor and Al Masoud Automobiles Delma Group as the Main Sponsors. Nissan Sunny car is displayed in the ground floor which is the mega raffle prize included in the entry tickets.

The festival will run through 3 days with 5 pm to 10 pm on the first day and 1 pm to 11 pm on second day and 12 am to 11 pm on the final day. Around 50,000 spectators were expected by the Centre who had conducted these kind of festivals successfully earlier.

The gates were open at 5 pm with various stalls within the multi-storey facility of the Centre exhibited by various institutions, banks, brokers, real estate agents, jewellers, traders and many more business units operating in UAE and elsewhere. On the top floor were various food court stalls arranged by many famous restaurants as well as individuals who displayed and served mouth watering Indian delicacies. Despite the cold and windy weather on the open top floor, people of various nationalities flocked into the Centre which had open invitations to all though they had to pay a small entrance fee which is loaded with raffle prizes.

There was a stage set on the top floor swimming pool area with dazzling lights and sounds. DJ Dhanush of Radio 105.4 FM along with co-host Aparna opened up the stage show while the Chief Guest arrived on the top floor of the facility, welcoming the guests and the dignitaries. The Chief Guest along with other guests were invited on to the stage including K P Ganesh Babu, Managing Director of Gemini Building Materials, the title sponsors, and Humayun Alam, Assistant General Manager of Al Masoud Automobiles, Padmashree Gangaramani of Al Fara Group, and others.

Entertainment secretary Ashok Kumar welcomed the dignitaries on the dais for the inauguration Lokesh, accompanied by ISC officials and sponsors lit the inaugural lamp. M A Salam welcomed the dignitaries on the dais and the ISC board of governors.

Ramesh Panicker in his presidential speech thanked theambassador for visiting and inaugurating the festival and also organizers for putting up such a huge show. He also remembered former president Thomas Varghese who had initiated the first India Fest 2011 and conducted it successfully. He also announced that 5% of earnings of the festival will be allocated to the charity to the needy Indian community. He said last year a substantialamount had been sent to India for the purpose. He requested all the guests and invitees to enjoy the three days of festival with food, fun and entertainment arranged by the Centre.

M K Lokesh spoke on the occasion and commended the efforts and hard work put up by ISC and particularly by the festival organizing committee. He too remembered Thomas Varghese, who had organized this festival for the first time in ISC and thanked him for his vision. He also thanked Anuka Chakravarthy for her efforts in arranging visa and travel of 25 cultural troupe members from India who would be performing over the three days.

Soon after the inauguration were cultural shows by various world renowned musicians and artists who flew all the way from India, Indonesia and Egypt. India’s famous Pandit Daya Shanker with his musicians presented a soothing Shehnai (aerophonic instrument) music and entertained the gathering. Pandit Daya Shanker and his troupe were felicitated by ISC’s Honorary Auditor Jayarama Rai with roses as a mark of appreciation from Indian community. Followed was a brilliant Egyptian dance performance by Mohammed who gave a stunning presentation of their culture. Entertainment also included Qawwali presentation by the renowned Qawwali singer Jameel Ahmed from India with his 8-member troupe sang catchy qawwali numbers and enthralled the crowd. Couple dance and peacock dance were presented by the Indonesian dance troupe and all the entertainers were widely appreciated and applauded.

MC’s DJ Dhanush and Aparna presented the whole event with a lot of wit and humour, which kept the audience entertained throughout. On the whole the inaugural event was packed with fun, food and entertainment, enjoyed by all and the three days India Fest 2012 is open until Saturday.

• Photo Album

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Once completed, the 551m, the 112-storey Doha Convention Centre and Tower project will become the second tallest tower in the world.

Recently however, the developer suspended work on the tower following the discovery that it would impact the takeoff and landing routes of aircraft from the current international airport.

The problem is expected to be resolved once the new runway  is built parallel to the existing one, approximately 1km closer to the east coast, on reclaimed land.

Mohammed bin Ali Al Hadfah, chief executive officer of Qatari Diar, developers behind the project, told the local Arabic language daily, Al Sharq, that once the New Doha International Airport had been inaugurated, the direction of flights would be changed.

Once this is done, work on the project would resume, he added. At present, the foundation for tower has been completed, Al Hadfah said.

The Doha Convention Centre and Tower project is located in the West Bay Area and will comprise of hotel facilities and apartments, in addition to retail spaces.

The convention area itself will be 100,000m2 in size, while the tower and centre will include 65,000m2 of gross office floor space and 25,000m2 of retail area.

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, construction on the project started in 2007. Design architects are Murphy/Jahn Architects. Structural engineering was carried out by Hyder Consulting, Magnusson Klemencic Associates and Werner Sobek Engineering Design; MEP design was completed by Hyder Consulting and Arup; while Turner Construction is handling project management.

The project is scheduled to be completed by Q4 2015.

Courtesy Arabianbusiness

Emirates Airline was the worst hit, halting four flights from its UK schedule. “Flights EK29 and EK05 – scheduled to depart Dubai at 09:40 and 16:30 respectively – and the return flights EK30 and EK06, due to depart London Heathrow at 16:35 and 22:00 on the same day, have been cancelled,” the company said in a statement on its website.

Etihad Airways said it had cancelled two flights into London Heathrow, and was advising passengers of alternative flights. “ Flights EY 11 (02.40) from Abu Dhabi to London and the return flight EY 12 (0915) from London to Abu Dhabi will not operate,” the company said.

Qatar Airways also cancelled its flight QR001 from Doha to London Heathrow, and flight QR002 from Heathrow to Doha.  “Due to severe weather expected in the UK over the weekend with forecasts of heavy snow and icy conditions, especially in the south, flights will be affected in and out of London Heathrow. To minimise disruption to passengers and operations at Heathrow, airport authority BAA has imposed a cut in the number of flights for all airlines flying to and from Heathrow,” the airline said on its website.

Courtesy Arabianbusiness

Last year’s popular uprising, which forced out President Hosni Mubarak, brought much of Egypt’s economy to a halt, slashed tourism revenue and prompted overseas warnings against visiting its Red Sea and Mediterranean holiday destinations.

“The future of tourism in Egypt will be great,” Samy Mahmoud, undersecretary of Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and head of the International Tourism Sector, told Reuters in an interview in Dubai.

“By the end of 2012, we expect between 12 to 13 million tourists. The contribution to the economy will be around $11bn.”

He said figures from last year were not yet available, but added that 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, adding around $12.5bn to the country’s economy.

Cairo, home to the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the 14th century Khan el-Khalili market, was rocked again on Sunday by protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army.

They hurled rocks at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry and were forced back with volleys of tear gas.

“Seventy-five percent of total tourist arrivals to Egypt are going to Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam. These places are very safe. Only about 25 percent are coming to Cairo,” he said.

Mahmoud said he expected rising visitor numbers from Russia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Gulf Arab region.

A senior assistant to the tourism minister said in December Egypt expected to earn about $9bn from tourism in 2011, down by about a third on a year earlier.

With its pharaonic antiquities and year-round warm beaches, Egypt relies on tourism as its top foreign currency earner, source of over a tenth of gross domestic product. It provides one in eight jobs in a country beset by high unemployment.

On Thursday, in Egypt’s worst ever soccer disaster, fans rioted after a match in Port Said when the local team al-Masry beat Al Ahli, one of the country’s most successful clubs. At least 74 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured.

Asked about what the authorities could do to convince tourists that Egypt was safe, Mahmoud said: “By the end of June we will have a president and a strong government. This will boost tourism in Egypt.”

The military council, which took charge when former President Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising on February 11, has promised to hand power to civilians by the end of June after an election.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party secured almost half the seats in the first election since Mubarak’s ouster, is now under pressure to use its newly won parliamentary power to help restore order.

Asked whether he thought Egypt’s new government was doing enough to promote tourism, Mahmoud said: “Of course. We have good security and a good system. Tourism will be the future for the economy of Egypt.”

Courtesy Arabianbusiness