With the push of a button, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurated the Dubai Canal on the evening of November 9, 2016. With the opening of the Dh3.7 billion waterway connecting Dubai Creek with the Arabian Gulf, Sheikh Mohammed also realised the dream of his father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed.
Indeed, it was Sheikh Rashid, who became Ruler in 1958, and whose vision it was to deepen Dubai Creek, that set the emirate on course as a global centre of trade and commerce.
First announced in 2013, the 3.2km-long Dubai Canal extends the Dubai Creek from Business Bay underneath Sheikh Zayed Road, through Safa Park and Jumeirah and onto the Arabian Gulf. The plans by developer Dubai Holding included a 12km promenade with water homes, floating restaurants, shops and five marinas lined with palm trees. The project also featured the first purpose-built yachting destination in the region and other leisure and entertainment. Residential units would be built on water with boat access and offer views of the canal.
Traffic diversion work on Sheikh Zayed Road in the Dubai-Abu Dhabi direction near Safa Park began in 2014, with the construction of the Dubai Canal split into three phases. The first phase included the construction of the bridge across the canal on Sheikh Zayed Road. Rising eight metres to allow free navigation of the canal, the bridge consists of eight lanes in each direction.
The second phase included the construction of bridges across the canal on Jumeirah and Al Wasl roads spanning three lanes on Jumeirah Road and two lanes on Al Wasl Road in each direction, in addition to a flyover from Al Wasl Road to Al Hadiqa Road in the direction of Sheikh Zayed Road.
The final phase included the drilling of the canal, landfilling works and the construction of a sea wall to prepare a sand beach, building a marina for boats and water buses and the construction of three landmark pedestrian bridges above the canal.
The first pedestrian bridge, which is 122 metres long and six metres wide, is supported by two 90-tonne forked antennas, which were installed inside the canal before it was flooded. The second bridge is S-shaped and extends 205 metres and is suspended by a 1,700-tonne arch and steel cables. The third, a 140-metre-long and 3.5-metre-wide bridge, features a twisted structure. The design is meant to protect pedestrians from the sun while still giving them striking views of the Dubai skyline.
In 2017, on International Day of Tolerance on November 16, Sheikh Mohammed announced that the S-shape pedestrian bridge has been named Tolerance Bridge.
"Tolerance is synonymous with the UAE," said Sheikh Mohammed. "It is a fundamental value of our people and an essential element for our development and prosperity in the future."
The twisting Dubai Water Canal Bridge was named one of the most beautiful bridges in the world by Conde Nast Traveller in 2021. The magazine put the unique footbridge alongside other eye-catching bridges, such as California's Golden Gate Bridge and the Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland, and said the unusual twisting design "evokes the movement and motion when crossing from one bank to the other".
The designers of the bridge said it is representative of the "future and the dynamic vision of Dubai". At the opening of the Dubai Canal a year earlier, Sheikh Mohammed praised the implementation of the project and said the UAE aspires to rank among the world’s leading nations.
"Every achievement and success that we celebrate motivates us to move ahead with confidence, determination and optimism. We are challenging ourselves to generate the best ideas and initiatives,” he said at an event at a peninsula near Jumeirah Beach Park. "Our progressive way of thinking, ambition and positive energy will bring happiness to the people and prosperity to the nation.”
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
