A few photos of Dubai. Although our stay was brief a few things struck us about Dubai. Yes there is wealth but there are also tens of thousands of people from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand working in substandard working conditions to keep the whole economy moving. What was most apparent was the disparity of wealth.
Also for example our tour guide’s parents immigrated from Pakistan decades ago. Our guide was born in Dubai, but carried a Pakistani passport with no hope of U.A.E. citizenship. Every two years he would have his passport stamped. That’s okay for now, but conditions change. What happens when they tell his children to go back to Pakistan – a country they have never seen.
154 stories plus nine stories for maintenance. 7,500 skilled workers were employed at the construction site. Press reports indicated in 2006 that skilled carpenters at the site earned £4.34 a day, and labourers earned £2.84. According to a BBC investigation and a Human Rights Watch report, the workers were housed in abysmal conditions, and worked long hours for low pay. During construction, only one construction-related death was reported. However, workplace injuries and fatalities in the UAE are “poorly documented”, according to Human Rights Watch. [from Wikipedia]
So – proud of the tallest building in the world?
