TA5

wow, from the same people that said dubai was not affected by the global economic crisis, and the same people that said dubai had no debt problems

MacScot

We're not allowed to use mobile phones during the quiz...possibility of cheating !

Roadking

Where as your reputable, reliable source of information is.....?

Not saying you are right or wrong, just tired of the same old same old from people who know nothing but claim to be the font of all kowledge.

AUHJohn

PRICELESS

Boomhauer

Grabbed this off of UAEcommunity blog.

TA5

You describe the dubai government and citizens in general very well.

Madam Medusa

hahahaha...love it...

MM, xx

NorthernLad

kittycat1

You'd think they would have registered the domain name...

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/57799...r-burj-khalifa

MacScot

Never liked those domain name jumpers or squatters. A chinese company has grabbed all the available suffixes for my domain name except the dot.com version. They have offered me to buy the other suffix domain names for US$500...but I'm not interested. Though, I was at some point going to use the .edu but that has gone.

BurpusMe

My 2 fils:

BK is an accomplishment in engineering, a powerful iconic landmark, and a major tourist draw in the region.
BK landed Dubai in the centre of every major media outlet on the planet - showing a mostly positive story.
Dubai & UAE will reap the benefits of this development for years to come.

The name change has no bearing on any of the above.

It illustrates that UAE is working together for the success of the nation.
Why is that so bad?

Some food for thought - from America of all places.

The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space went without being rented. The building's vacancy was exacerbated by its poor location on 34th Street, which placed it relatively far from public transportation, as Grand Central Terminal, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and Penn Station are all several blocks away. Other more successful skyscrapers, such as the Chrysler Building, do not have this problem. In its first year of operation, the observation deck took in approximately 2 million dollars, as much money as its owners made in rent that year. The lack of renters led New Yorkers to deride the building as the "Empty State Building". The building would not become profitable until 1950.

Keep in mind - BK has a great location and good access to public transit, advantages that the Empty State Building didn't have back then.

weescot

You make some good points but you can't directly compare construction of these two buildings because the Empire State Building construction gave much needed employment and its economic benefits to Americans for Americans vs cheap third world labour that will forever be assocaited will all construction here.

Jeeper

The success of the Empire state or the Burj was not (and for the later, will not) be related to the labour force used in the construction.

I say very little positive about this place but the Burj will - in time - be a success......and the fact it was built by cheap 3rd world labour will not be a factor.

Sure the Empire state was good for those americans who would have otherwise been unemployed....but that's hardly why it was the success it was.

shiva

i think i'm right in saying that the empire state building was also built by exploited cheap indian labour, although it was the red kind and if i recall corrctly most were from the same tribe, something about no fear of heights and abject poverty springs to mind.

Ethos83

The Indian labours actually made decent money at the time. Most of the workers weren't Indians, the men from the tribes in upstate New York were used for the very high floors as they have an innately better sense of balance despite heights. Indian construction workers are still found building skyscrapers in the US today for this reason.

The Empire state building became a NY landmark but was never a financial success. We can also point out other factors that NYC was much larger than Dubai is today, with a greater and more diversified economy. Blah blah blah.

Burj Dubai is certainly a landmark tower, but only until the next tallest tower comes along. How many of you remember the Petronas towers in Malaysia or the Sears Tower in Chicago?