March, 2016

• 6 March

  Beijing’s architectural crackdown

  

  Jonathan Hall-Eastman SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS A TV network headquarters that resembles a pair of pants. A newspaper headquarters that bears more than a passing similarity to an erect phallus. An arts center that has been described as a “group of space eggs.” These are just a few of the most famous examples of the many ridiculous looking buildings that ...

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• 6 March

  Firms ink $3.8bn Cairo mixed-use scheme deal

  

  CAIRO / EMIRATES BUSINESS Egypt’s Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (Sodic) and Heliopolis Development Housing (Heliopolis Housing) have signed a co-development contract for a major mixed-use scheme in Cairo. Sodic will develop 70 per cent and 69.8 per cent of the residential and commercial units respectively, while Heliopolis House will develop the rest, according to a company statement. ...

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• 6 March

  Forget the loft: The newest trend in luxury real estate is walls

  

  MANHATTAN / Bloomberg For Wendy Maitland, Town Residential’s president of sales, an Oscar-winning director client of hers was a typical real estate shopper with typical requests. He had a seven-figure budget and was keen to buy into one of the many new luxury condo complexes sprouting around Manhattan. Maitland showed him multiple locations until they whittled his choice down to ...

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• 6 March

  Bolivia’s unlikely dream of cashing in on Coca export

  

  DPA Franziska Berra has been plucking coca leaves for 65 years. In scorching heat, from 9 am until at least 5 pm, eight hours almost without a break: just coca. She never learned anything else. “Now the price has hit rock bottom,” says the 80-year-old, who bends down all day to pluck the green leaves and covers her head with ...

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• 6 March

  Smog with a silver lining

  

  AFP The steel plants and cement factories scattered across China’s Shandong province have made it one of the most contaminated areas of the world’s biggest polluter. But for one company, that just makes the business climate better. ASL Masks says it turned out more than 100,000 face coverings last year and aims to more than double that in 2016 as ...

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• 6 March

  Oman water projects to go to bids soon

  Emirates Business Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), the sole buyer of all electricity and desalinated water output in the Oman Sultanate, plans to shortly invite prequalified bidders to submit proposals for the development of Independent Water Projects (IWP) in Sharqiyah and Dhofar governorates, a top official has revealed. Ahmed bin Saleh al Jahdhami, CEO of OPWP , said ...

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• 6 March

  Visa on arrival in Azerbaijan for GCC, far east nationals

  Dubai / EMIRATES BUSINESS The government of the Republic of Azerbaijan has lifted advance visa requirement for citizens of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, Japan, Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and Singapore. His Excellency Mr. Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has been closely monitoring the lifting of visa process and ...

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• 6 March

  China’s US$175bn outflow wasn’t investor flight: BIS

  

  Beijing / Bloomberg Persistent capital outflows from China since mid-2014 were probably driven more by local companies paying down their dollar-denominated debt — in anticipation a stronger US currency — than investors ditching Chinese assets, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The outpouring of China’s currency “led to two different narratives,” researchers for the Switzerland-based institution said in ...

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• 6 March

  ‘China economy won’t suffer a hard landing’

  

  Beijing / AFP China’s economy “absolutely will not” suffer a hard landing, the chief of its top planning body said on Sunday, as Beijing’s leaders try to reassure global investors about the world’s second-largest economy. Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), made the comments to reporters on the second day of the annual meeting of ...

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• 6 March

  Japan seeks EU deal on passenger information

  Tokyo / DPA The Japanese government plans to start talks with the European Union to conclude a deal that would require EU airlines to provide Passenger Name Records, a move aimed at beefing up antiterrorism defences at Japan‘s borders. According to sources, EU airlines that have routes to Japan would have to provide this electronic record before a flight departs. ...

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