The grand launch of the famed Burj Dubai now known as Burj Khalifa bin Zayed, is by itself redefining the concept of "big." These adjectives aptly describe the event: spectacular, big, grand, vast, superb, fantastic, fabulous, awesome...scale of epic proportions.
First off, over 6,000 people were officially invited. My friend got an invite and he is the Sales & Marketing Manager of Atlas Copco, a company that supplied machineries and equipments during the tower's construction stages...but, he didn't go. It seems that they invited people who even played a small role in building Burj Khalifa. Anyways, there are also the people who personally went to see it live, especially for the fireworks. My office colleague left Sharjah at 5:30 pm to catch the opening which was scheduled at 8:00 pm. They reached the nearest place where they can park the car and watch just a little before the fireworks started. The fireworks was the grand finale of the program. Sheikh Zayed was officially closed to public traffic at 5:00 pm so they had to go around roads and routes just to find the most ideal place. In the beginning, they were able to park on the shoulder of the flyover that overlooks directly the Burj. Where they were, they had a perfect view of the fountain and the tower. Unfortunately, RTA (the traffic police) shooed all the cars lined up along the shoulders. Even the cars below the flyover and parked along the shoulders had to go. Even International City, the residential area along Emirates Road, became a ghost town because all tenants went to watch the first biggest event of the year!
Not only was the attendance "big," but also the program was a huge production number. There were Arabic dancers, little girls all dolled up to recite something for Sheikh Mo, two sky divers jumped from the tower...there was something happening wherever Sheikh Mo went. Of course, the highlight of them all were the water dance and the fireworks.
What surprised everyone was its new name: Burj Khalifa bin Zayed...the iconic tower of Dubai was suddenly named after Sheikh Mo's brother, the President of UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi. The official reason given to the public is it was a gesture to show the unity between Dubai and Abu Dhabi after all the rumors going around that Abu Dhabi refuses to bail out Dubai if they won't liquidate their assets in return. But as expected, the truth is hidden from the public and the speculations going around are: (1) Abu Dhabi paid for the finishing of Burj Dubai in exchange of the name change, and (2) Dubai is kissing Abu Dhabi's ass to get away with sweeter deals. No matter what the real reason is, it is a "big" shame that the iconic tower of Dubai suddenly loses the name to Abu Dhabi. This, in a way, sends a statement that Dubai has to bend its knees to Abu Dhabi.
But I guess, the biggest shame of all is that after someone did all the hard, dirty work, someone else will take all the credit in the end. Dubai is the one responsible for putting UAE and Middle East in the map and in every household. At the end of the day, it has to succumb to the economic realities it is facing and the politics of the federation. After all this, will Dubai go ahead with the plans of becoming independent from UAE and become "Sultanate of Dubai" or "Kingdom of Dubai?"
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