Egyptian cities have been hit by daily power cuts during the past two weeks, causing protests and calls for the electricity minister to be fired. The government says the problem is the consequence of higher consumption and it is taking measures to restore the service. Egypt suffers with sweltering temperatures. Muslims enjoy the fasting month of Ramadan and due to blackouts they have to use candles and gas lamps breaking their Ramadan fast in near-darkness. Bbc.co.uk

According to Saudi officials, a deal to prevent a ban on the Blackberry services in Saudi Arabia is "in sight". Saudi Arabia was to ban the smartphone on Friday because the manufacturer Canadian RIM uses an encrypted message service that cannot be monitored. Several other countries such as India and the UAE have expressed national security concerns over the Blackberry system. It is believed a special server for the messenger system will be set up in Saudi Arabia as part of the agreement. Blackberry services were reported to have stopped functioning for four hours on Friday but then resumed.
Bbc.co.uk.

Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has ordered mobile operators to halt BlackBerry services starting August 6. "Saudi Telecom Co, Mobily and Zain Saudi Arabia was asked to stop immediately the BlackBerry service in the country starting Friday. The reason for suspension is reported to be “not meeting regulatory requirements”. But sources from Saudi Telecom said the ban was caused by security concerns. The United Arab Emirates also threatened on Sunday to ban some BlackBerry services unless its maker, Canadian Research in Motion (RIM), gives it access to encrypted information. Aljazeera.net.

BP signed a major agreement with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. on Monday to develop two offshore gas fields. This is the largest deal for the beleaguered energy giant since its notorious disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Egypt's petroleum ministry said in a statement that the deal would develop five trillion cubic metres of gas from the North Alexandria Deepwater concession and the Western Mediterranean concession. According to the ministry the fields will produce 900 million cubic metres of gas a day starting from 2014. BP said in a statement that the blocks will produce up to one billion cubic metres a day. BP and its German partner RWE will invest the nine billion dollars for the project according to their stakes. BP holds 60 percent of the North Alexandria concession and 80 percent of the West Mediterranean concession. Middle-east-online.com.

Abu Dhabi plans to launch an automotive industry zone. This fact may open up the prospect for the emirate to become a centre for vehicle assembly. Everything from building vehicles to maintenance and sales could take place within the cluster, across an 11 square km swathe of industrial land in Musaffah. Abu Dhabi investors own stakes in its investment links with global car makers such as the German car giant Daimler and the Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari. “The automobile business is a huge one,” middle-east-online.com.quotes Mohammed al Qamzi, the chief executive of the Higher Corporation for Specialised Economic Zones (ZonesCorp).

France Telecom have recently announced its plans to acquire five telecom deals in North Africa and the Middle East and are hoping to complete some of these by the end of the summer. This revelation has led to the meeting of the leading names in telecoms at the NGT MENA summit. France Telecom is set to spend as much $8.6 billion on MENA deals over the next 5 years as part of a ‘double revenue’ strategy to capitalize on emerging markets. This plan comes as a direct result of slowing revenue growth within European markets. Across the MENA region telecoms infrastructures are expanding and modernizing, greater liberalization and competition are positively impacting on the market. The NGT MENA committee (hosted by GDS International) is investing time to identify the critical roles of telecommunications in the economic development of the region. More technologically diverse services are becoming available to both businesses and consumers alike. Internet usage is on the rise and money spent in the right place now will pay dividends.
Key to discussions will be investment into IP based infrastructure to replace the traditional telephone systems, LTE / SAE will play a vital role in developing this further and for unifying service delivery in an all IP environment. But that won't happen overnight and Vodafone Qatar - Grahame Maher, CEO, Du - Osman Sultan, CEO, Etisalat - Azhar Zia-ur-Rehman, Group Director IT Governance, MTN Afghanistan - George Nassif, CIO are only to aware of this. The NGT MENA committee needs to plan and phase in their approach to unified, converged network architecture whilst preserving their investments in existing technologies and service levels.
“A seamless broadband future will require a seamless approach to networking architectures, eradicating complex silo oriented approaches and adopting a far more consistent approach. It is clear that an all IP/MPLS environment will be the ultimate answer, but how and where should wire line and mobile service providers begin to make that journey?” NGU Mena Committee representatives
Emerging markets last year accounted for about 3.3 billion Euros of sales at France Telecom alone and the rest of Europe now appears to have spotted the opportunity, if the right infrastructure is in place than it appears the Middle East will have a bright future ahead.

The United Arab Emirates has closed down 40 international and local firms violating UN sanctions on Iran. These firms have been dealing with "dual-use and dangerous materials banned under UN resolutions and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty" middle-east-online.com quotes unnamed UAE official as saying. For years, Iran kept active trade ties with the one of seven emirates making up the UAE, Dubai, with the trade volume estimated at around 10 billion dollars per year, mostly of Iranian imports.

Iraqi officials have said that the state-owned Iraqi Airways would be declared bankrupt and closed due to a damaging dispute with Kuwait over war repatriations. Kuwait Airways representatives say the Iraqi carrier owes it about $1.2bn for aircraft and plane parts taken during the war in 1990. Last month, at London's Gatwick Airport Kuwaiti lawyers tried have an Iraqi Airlines plane confiscated. It had just arrived at the UK following the first direct flight between Baghdad and London for 20 years. Bbc.co.uk.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is considering the implementation of a comprehensive National Strategy to augment the country’s stock of affordable housing. HRH King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz has emphasized the need to expedite measures for facilitating easier access to housing for low- to middle-income citizens. Around 80 per cent of the Saudi population, which continues to grow at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent, is under the age of 39. Many of them are married couples in search of affordable entry-level housing to start their own families. The projects and services of over 100 local property developers, investors and service-driven firms with the potential to meet the KSA’s low-cost housing needs will be showcased in 10,000 sqm of exhibition space during the upcoming Business-to-Business Cityscape Jeddah 2010 exhibition. Saudi Arabia’s leading real estate investment and development event will run from June 7 to 9, 2010 at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events and will be held under the Patronage of HRH Prince Misha’al Bin Majed Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Jeddah. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry have approved the event and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a key supporter.

“Industry analysts affirm that low-cost housing has joined business parks as the top two investment attractions of Saudi Arabia due to surging demand for residential units. The national population is expected to hit 27 million by next year, so there is a growing urgency to balance residential developments so that everyone has the opportunity to buy a house that fits their needs and their budgets. Fortunately the KSA Government has taken the lead to ensure that housing will be accessible for all, and so we can expect affordable housing to occupy a greater share in upcoming property projects which will be showcased at Cityscape Jeddah,” said Deep Marwaha, Director of Cityscape Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could sustain a shortfall of up to one million housing units through 2013. Aside from its rapidly rising population, the country has one of the highest housing densities in the world (6.4 per cent in 2008). Therefore there is a constant demand for units among family members who want to have their own accommodations. Moreover, the Saudi urban population is very high, with over 80 percent of the population living in urban areas. Efforts are currently underway among developers to balance the distribution, location, and target markets of projects to ensure the property sector’s even growth. The underserved low-cost housing segment in particular is gaining greater popularity among developers and investors.

“The private sector is responding positively to the Saudi Government’s call for more low-cost housing developments. For our part, we intend to assist in the financing side so that developers can focus more on their projects. There is a need to consolidate industry and government efforts so that we can build a property market that is strong, balanced, and

Sustainable,” said Jamil Ghazawi, CEO, SHADA HOMES.

Although the Saudi royal family has initiated several charitable housing projects across the Kingdom to meet the needs of low income groups, a more systematic approach is needed to expedite the growth of mass housing. Government-backed initiatives such as the upcoming mortgage law and changes in municipal home construction legislation are reflecting the movement towards a large-scale National Strategy that will improve the ability of low- and middle-income individuals to acquire their own homes.
Cityscape Jeddah 2010 will also feature the 2nd annual Saudi Arabia Real Estate Investment and Development Conference, which will be held under the theme ‘Transparency, Investment Models and Future Partnerships.’ There will also be exclusive Investor Round Tables in addition to the 2nd Cityscape Awards for Real Estate in Saudi Arabia to be held on the opening night.

Cityscape Jeddah 2010 sponsors include Sumou Real Estate (Principal Sponsor), Knowledge Economic City (Silver Sponsor), and Shuaa Capital (Conference Investment Sponsor). For more event details please visit www.cityscapejeddah.com

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Orient Planet PR & Marketing Communications
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A Dubai-based manufacturer of water heaters working from solar power has given an interview the Gulfnews. According to him, such water heater can pay off in just 2 years. The heaters use solar power instead of electricity and do not pollute the environment. They can heat 400 liters of water per day up to 90C. In addition, such water heaters almost do not require any maintenance. In Dubai, the largest sun-powered water heater is installed on the roof of one of the hotels, which has 220 rooms. The owner of the hotel reported a saving of about 100,000 dirhams on electricity bills.