Filed on September 25, 2017 | Last updated on September 25, 2017 at 10.24 am

E-car users will also be exempted from RTA registration and renewal vehicle fees, and will get free Salik tag upon registration.

Residents will receive free parking spots and free Salik tag among other incentives if they choose to own an electric vehicle and leave their fuel-powered cars behind, officials announced on Sunday.

In collaboration with Road and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced a number of incentives for electric cars owners to promote green mobility and sustainable transport around the emirate.

The RTA will provide four initiatives for electric car owners including free parking spots in 40 different locations that will be designed across Dubai specifically for users by the end of this year.

E-car users will also be exempted from RTA registration and renewal vehicle fees, and will get free Salik tag upon registration.

RTA will also provide a unique plate number sticker for electric vehicles to help inspectors differentiate the vehicles in public places.

Similarly, DEWA will enable e-car users to charge their vehicles at 100 green charging stations across Dubai for free until the end of 2019-- exclusive for public charging stations and not including home charging stations. The authority is working on installing 100 more Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations to bring the number up to 200 by 2018, and thus build a strong infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, said introducing such incentives will help authorities solve challenges in implementing and promoting electric cars in Dubai.

"[The main challenge is] we don't see electric cars in the market and we would like to penetrate the market by providing such incentives. I am sure now that government and private entities, or even individuals will shift to electric vehicles when they know how much they can save," said Al Tayer.

He noted that although the electric car sector has grown by about 30 per cent between 2014 and 2016, the ownership of the zero-carbon emission vehicles in Dubai remains unsatisfactory.

With numbers of electric cars not exceeding 800 vehicles in the emirate, Al Tayer said the aim is to make electric cars reach 2 per cent of Dubai's vehicular fleet by 2020 and 10 per cent by 2030.

"Our ambition is to increase the numbers of e-cars to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions. Currently, the number of e-cars is very low, which is why we started improving infrastructure and adding more charging stations," said Al Tayer.

According to DEWA studies, Dubai expects the number of electric and hybrid cars on the road to reach 32,000 by 2020 and 42,000 by 2030.

Government institutions are moving in line with UAE Vision 2021 to create a sustainable environment for air quality and increase clean energy and green development. At least 10 per cent of newly-purchased cars by government organizations will be electric or hybrid from 2016 to 2020. This supports the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy to cut carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021.

Last week, RTA unveiled 50 Tesla electric vehicles that will be added to the limo fleet of the Dubai Taxi Corporation, with aims to occupy 50 per cent of Dubai's taxi fleet with electric vehicles by 2021.

Owning e-cars will save money

Al Tayer said using electric cars will help save millions on the long run, besides reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.

Currently, DEWA set the tariff for charging an e-vehicle at Green Chargers at 29 fils per kilowatt, which, according to Al Tayer, is a "significant saving" compared to fuel-powered cars.

"Charging a Renault electric car costs Dh7, as compared to fueling a petrol-powered Renault with about Dh120," said Al Tayer. "Similarly, to charge a Tesla car can cost up to Dh29 compared to over Dh200 of fuel."

For the next three years, electric car owners will charge their cars across Dubai for free, thus, cancelling out about Dh2,000 worth of fuel a month.

"Even after the three years, e-car users will be able to save a lot of money on the long term, reducing operating costs by 40 per cent for car rental companies, public and private sector and individuals," said Al Tayer.

E-car users can download DEWA's smart app to locate Green Chargers across the city. The app indicates empty and busy charging points in shopping malls and public areas.

New buildings will have designated parking spaces for e-cars

It will be mandatory for developers to designate parking space for electric vehicles as part of their construction process of upcoming buildings.

Going with the green building standards and rating system 'Al Safat,' those who achieve the silver rating will have to assign 5 per cent of parking spaces to e-cars. Developers who achieve gold rating have to designate 7 per cent of parking space to electric vehicles, while platinum-rated buildings have to dedicate 10 per cent to e-cars.

It will also be mandatory for buildings to provide EV charging stations.

He added that in 2017, the municipality has dedicated 25 per cent of its budget to using electric cars within the organization. The civic body purchased 21 hybrid cars this year. sherouk@khaleejtimes.com

Sherouk Zakaria "Born and raised in UAE, Sherouk Zakaria is a Senior Correspondent at Khaleej Times. Joined since May 2016, she covers Dubai Municipality, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), special events and humanitarian issues. Her choice of journalism as a career stems from her passion of telling people's stories and writing to inspire or make a difference. In her free time, she's an occasional theater and film actress. Sherouk received her BA in Mass Communications from the American University in Sharjah in 2013. Before joining Khaleej Times, she was a senior lifestyle/entertainment editor for a magazine in Dubai."

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ERROR: Macro /ads/dfp-ad-article-new is missing!</s>Want free parking? Drive an electric car in Dubai

Battery-car specialist Tesla Inc opened its first showroom in Dubai in July. — AFP picABU DHABI, Sept 25 — Dubai, with its 14-lane highways and car-dependent residents, will provide free parking and toll-free driving to encourage motorists to shift to electric cars as a way of cutting carbon emissions in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority aims to have 32,000 electric cars on local roads by 2020 and 42,000 by 2030, Chief Executive Officer Saeed Al Tayer said yesterday at a news conference in Dubai. DEWA installed 100 charging stations across the city by 2015 and aims to add another 100 by the end of next year, he said.

“As an incentive, DEWA’s registered users will be able to have their electric vehicles charged by DEWA’s Green Charger electric vehicle charging stations, completely free until the end of 2019,” Al Tayer said. Together with the Road and Transportation Authority, the utility is also offering free parking spaces and exemptions from tolls and vehicle registration fees for electric-car owners.

Middle Eastern crude-producing countries are shifting toward renewable sources of energy to help reduce domestic oil use and preserve more petroleum for exports. Dubai, the second-biggest sheikhdom in the United Arab Emirates — which holds about 6 per cent of the world’s crude reserves — has started building a 1.2 billion dirham (RM1.3 billion) solar plant, while neighbouring Saudi Arabia is planning for its first utility-scale wind project. Battery-car specialist Tesla Inc opened its first showroom in Dubai in July, as the fledgling market for electric vehicles takes shape worldwide. — Bloomberg</s>DUBAI, April 6 (Reuters) - Dubai-based real estate investment trust Emirates REIT IPO-EMIR.DU said it had expanded the size of its initial public offer of shares on NASDAQ Dubai, the emirate’s first IPO since its financial crisis erupted in 2009, because of strong demand.

Emirates REIT will raise $175 million in the IPO, which was 3.5 times oversubscribed, by selling 128.68 million new shares, it said in a statement on Sunday. In addition, up to 19.30 million shares will be sold under over-allotment arrangements.

The offer was priced at $1.36 per share, at the bottom of an indicative range of $1.36-1.56. Shares have been sold to a broad base of institutional investors in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf and Britain, the company said.

The IPO benefited from a strong recovery of Dubai’s real estate and equity markets over the past 18 months. The REIT, which manages assets ranging from school buildings to business towers and retail space, had assets worth $333 million at the end of last year, up from $213 million at the end of 2012.

The offer price and size imply Emirates REIT will have a market capitalisation of $381 million and a free float of 46 percent of its shares.

Proceeds of the IPO will primarily be used to fund future acquisition opportunities, while a portion will go towards investment in existing assets, the company said.

The shares will list on NASDAQ Dubai this Tuesday.

Before the IPO, Dubai Islamic Bank owned 30.9 percent of the firm, two units of the Dubai Holding conglomerate {DUBAH.UL] owned a combined 27.1 percent, Emirates NBD owned 4.5 percent, Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes held 4.2 percent and Dubai property developer Deyaar had 3.4 percent. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia, editing by David Evans)</s>DUBAI, March 11 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates’ first real estate investment trust, Emirates REIT, said on Tuesday that it planned to raise at least 500 million dirhams ($135 million) through an initial public offer of its shares on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse.

The company will use the proceeds for possible future acquisitions and investment in existing assets, Abdulla al-Hamli, chairman of its Management Board, told reporters without giving a firm time frame for the IPO.

The value of the company is not known yet and the IPO will be conducted through a book-building process. Nasdaq Dubai IPOs usually sell at least 25 percent of a company. Current shareholders will not sell their shares; new shares will be issued for the IPO.

Emirates REIT, which was formed in 2010 and complies with Islamic investment principles, appointed Shuaa Capital sponsor for the IPO while Shuaa and Emirates NBD will be joint bookrunners.

As of last December, the company had 10 properties comprising 1.2 million square feet of net leasable area; its total assets were valued at about $333 million, it said.

Dubai Islamic Bank currently owns 30.9 percent of the company, two units of the Dubai Holding conglomerate own a combined 27.1 percent, Emirates NBD owns 4.5 percent, Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes has 4.2 percent and Dubai property developer Deyaar has 3.4 percent. (Reporting by Mirna Sleiman; Editing by Andrew Torchia)</s>Dubai staged a test flight on Monday for what it said would soon be the world's first drone taxi service under an ambitious plan by the United Arab Emirates city to lead the Arab world in innovation. From a report:</s>DUBAI, March 11 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates’ first real estate investment trust will announce later on Tuesday an initial public offer of its shares on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse, a source aware of the matter said.

Emirates REIT, which was formed in 2010 and complies with Islamic investment principles, has eight properties valued at over 1.1 billion dirhams ($300 million), according to recent statements by the trust. REITs directly invest in properties and distribute profits as dividends.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) owns 35.3 percent of the company, while state-owned conglomerate Dubai Holding owns 31 percent through two of its units, according to its website.

Reuters first reported the plan for the IPO last September.</s>DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Dubai’s ruler has urged the international community to ease sanctions against Iran, in an interview broadcast by the BBC on Monday.

Asked whether he thought it was now time to lift sanctions against Iran, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, told the British broadcaster:

“I think so ... Iran is our neighbour and we don’t want any problem,” he said.

The vast majority of trade between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours is routed through Dubai, home to tens of thousands of ethnic Iranians and one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates.

A deal between Iran and six major powers intended to pave the way to a solution to a long standoff over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions will come into force on Jan. 20, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the European Union said on Sunday. (Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Eric Walsh)</s>* Dubai needs international financial support for growth plans

* Officials say pre-crisis boom was successful overall

* Promise more careful management of risks in next boom

LONDON, April 7 (Reuters) - Dubai told international bankers on Monday that it was gearing up for another boom and did not regret the pro-growth policies which brought it to the brink of default five years ago. It appeared to win the endorsement of many of the bankers.

Over a dozen top Dubai officials and executives met about 100 representatives of financial powerhouses including Deutsche Bank, Nomura Holdings and Fidelity Investments for the emirate’s first big investor roadshow since the crisis.

“If Dubai had to do the same again, most likely we would follow the same approach,” Mohammed al-Shaibani, chief executive of sovereign wealth fund Investment Corp of Dubai, told the audience at Deutsche Bank’s London offices.

He argued that heavy investment in Dubai between 2006 and 2008, which culminated in a 2009 debt crisis as a property bubble burst and state firms ran out of money, had succeeded in setting the emirate up as a major centre for finance and trade.

“Now we are leading the region and we have a mission to position Dubai as one of the world’s main global cities. We are on the right track,” Shaibani said.

The crisis forced Dubai’s state-linked conglomerates to restructure tens of billions of dollars of debt, threatening many of the bankers in the room with losses. But many expressed support for the emirate’s growth strategy on Monday.

Jeurgen Fitschen, co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, said there was a danger of excessive growth: “Managing the expansion the right way and minimising potential risks will be crucial for future investments.”

But he noted that Dubai’s latest investment plans, which involve spending tens of billions of dollars over the next five years on infrastructure projects and preparations to host the 2020 World Expo, would be a strong stimulus for the economy.

“Dubai is known to be a success story,” he said.

Dubai needs to restore full, healthy ties with the international financial community both to fund its growth plans and to manage heavy debt maturities coming due in the next few years, the legacy of its loan restructurings.

The International Monetary Fund estimates the emirate and state-linked entities will face $78 billion worth of debt maturing between 2014 and 2017, an amount which it has described as “challenging”.

Money is likely to be less readily available then it was before the global financial crisis, which has caused many foreign banks to become more cautious about lending.

Dubai officials and executives told the London meeting that after a slump immediately after the debt crisis, the emirate had entered a new phase of sustained growth on the back of burgeoning regional trade and financial flows.

“Dubai’s 10-year plan was to grow the economy from $38 billion in 2005 to $108 billion in 2015. We are now at a GDP of $97 billion with a growth of 5 percent expected in 2014,” said Essa Kazim, chairman of bourse operator Dubai Financial Market . “We are ahead of the plan.”

Much of the discussion focused on the risk of another bubble forming - property consultants JLL said in a report on Monday that Dubai’s average residential property prices soared 33 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter of this year, with prices in some areas reaching their pre-crisis peaks.

In addition to threatening another crash down the road, surging property prices could hurt Dubai’s competitiveness by raising its cost base. Hamad Bumaim, head of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, said the increasing cost of living needed to be monitored.

But Dubai executives insisted that lessons had been learned from the last boom, and that this time policy makers would prevent the economy and markets from overheating.

Adnan Chilwan, chief executive of Dubai Islamic Bank , said the crisis had caused almost all financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates to review issues such as liquidity management, capital adequacy and asset quality.

“With each of these issues now addressed, the overall industry is geared to progress towards an agenda of growth whilst ensuring that adequate measures are in place to manage any unforeseen crisis,” he said.

These arguments appeared to be accepted by many bankers and financiers at the meeting.

One European fund manager, who declined to be named because his company did not allow him to speak on record, said it was clear that Dubai officials had “become much more sophisticated and smart in dealing with their financials”.

“We have a good exposure to Dubai debt and have recently realized that this is less risky than many of the instruments in the developed economies,” he said.

Market movements suggest many international investors share this view. The price of Dubai’s five-year credit default swaps , used to insure against a government default, dropped last week to its lowest level since mid-2008.

Abdulrahman al-Saleh, head of Dubai’s Department of Finance, said on Monday that banks had shown willingness to help Dubai refinance an upcoming maturity of $1.9 billion in Islamic bonds this November.

“It is still early but we are in talks with banks for bilateral loans or syndications. They are approaching us. We are considering various funding options,” he told the audience.

The optimism at the London meeting was partly due to a positive atmosphere at last week’s annual creditor meeting of conglomerate Dubai World, which has $4.4 billion of restructured debt coming due in May 2015.

Shaibani told Reuters before the meeting that Dubai World had the means to repay the debt on time and expected to make some future repayments early. This partially eased concern that Dubai World might be selling assets too slowly to meet its obligations, bankers said.

In a sign of confidence in Dubai World, an executive of Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest bank, said in London on Monday that the bank might this year write back its non-performing loan provisions against exposure to the conglomerate.

“We have sufficient confidence that we will be able to reclassify it as performing,” Patrick Clerkin, head of the funding group at Emirates NBD, told Reuters.

Clerkin said the bank had set aside provisions for 5 percent of its 9 billion dirham ($2.5 billion) exposure to Dubai World. If that provision is written back, it could provide a one-off boost of about 450 million dirhams to the bank’s profit. (Writing by Andrew Torchia)
City officials in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, announce that residents will receive incentives for swapping their petrol engine vehicles for electric ones, including a free Salik tag, and an exemption from RTA registration and renewal vehicle fees.