Month: August 2008
Photo Speaks – Abu Dhabi – passing shots
Old boats lying for repair at Mina Port Abu Dhabi
Cargo boats unloading vegetables and materials at Mina Port Abu Dhabi
Photos by Ramesh Menon
‘enYironmend’ tomorrow
‘enYironmend’ tomorrow
Monday August 11 2008 02:23 IST Express News Service KOCHI
KOCHI: The Young Indians (Yi) Kochi Chapter will launch their ‘enYironmend’ with a day-long mega event on August 12 at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The programme includes competition for the school students from standard 3 to 9.
There will be four categories of competitions including Poster Making, Public Speaking, Jungle Making, and Innovation. Around 3,000 students from various schools in the Cochin Corporation limits will participate.
The initiative website http://www.enyironmend. com carries details regarding the competitions and rules and regulation to be followed. There is no registration fee. Interested participants can register online by sending mail to enyironmend @gmail.com or contact Young Indians office at 0484-4012300.
National Anthem competition
National Anthem competition
Monday August 11 2008 02:34 IST Express News Service KOCHI
KOCHI: AS the part of the Independence day celebrations, Chavara Cultural Centre is conducting separate competitions on National Anthem and patriotic songs.
The programme will be held at the Chavara Cultural Centre Hall on August 15, from 10 a.m. The students standard I to XII are eligible to take part in competition and more than one team from a school is allowed. A minimum of seven members in a team is mandatory and musical instruments are not permitted.
Those who wish to participate have to register their names on or before August 14 with the authorised letters from the school, said Chavara Cultural Centre Director Father Roby Kannanchira in a press release. For more details contact: 0484-4070250 or 0484-2377443.
Sohanlal teams up with Thilakan in ‘Orkkuka Vallappozhum’
Sohanlal teams up with Thilakan in ‘Orkkuka Vallappozhum’
Music lovers all over cannot forget the recently concluded Raga Ratnam Junior show. The quality of the show was appreciated by all and even managed to get the prime time of Amrita TV for it’s telecast and even continued after the Finals due to viewer’s demand.
Mr. Sohanlal, the producer and director of the show, daring and courageous man behind such a venture is coming up with an exciting project – a movie this time. Thilakan is doing a key character in the film ‘Orkkuka Vallappozhum’ to be directed by Sohanlal. A promising artiste, director and more over a daring person who wish to innovate, who made the beautiful ‘Neermaathalathinte Pookkal’, a telefilm about poetess Kamala Das. In the movie ‘Orkkuka Vallappozhum’, Thilakan plays the character of a 75 year old.
It is known to all that the thespian has not been getting characters commensurate to his potential and righteously has been voicing his protest against this for sometime now. This is an opportunistic character which may bring out the best in him as the role promises much emotion projecting his talents, yet un-explored by others.
Shilpabala, a new face, plays the heroine.
The filming of the movie, produced by Vinu Y.S for God’s Own Moviz, is scheduled for September at Kuttikkanam. Music is by M.Jayachandran. Music lovers can listen to some good scores including onne of P Bhaskaran’s poems in this movie. The story is narrated in a nostalgic mood where veteran Sethumadhavan makes feeble attempts to return to the innocence of his past.
Ramesh Menon
10082008
Energy saving tips on tap
Energy saving tips on tap
By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter GULF NES Published: August 10, 2008, 00:02
Dubai: Using water and electricity too abundantly is not in anyone’s best interest in this time of energy conservation so Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has launched a campaign to help residents use less of the UAE’s resources.
The campaign, Now That You Know, Don’t Let it Go, focuses on the behaviour of consumers when it comes to wasting water and electricity.
For example to meet residents’ daily demand of electricity requires 7,000 workers, 1,219 kilometres of overhead lines and 2,129 kilometres of underground cables.
There are 43 desalinating units and 769km of pipeline to get water to your house where it might be wasted and used to wash sand off your driveway or used more carefully with water saving faucets.
The campaign is a sequel to the Your Decision campaign that marked the introduction of a slab-based tariff system.
The new campaign, which will be implemented at government departments, private companies and shopping malls, aims to educate the public on avoiding wasting water and power to help save the environment and natural resources.
Watering your garden before 8am or after 6pm and avoiding doing so on windy days, and in several short sessions rather than one long one, is the best way to keep your lawn healthy.
Dewa also advises people to only water when the lawn needs it.
Overwatering promotes shallow root growth making your lawn less hardy. To determine if your lawn needs to be watered, simply walk across the grass. If you leave footprints, it’s time to water.
Amal Koshak, manager of investors services at Dewa’s Customer Relations Department, said the campaign will contribute in educating consumers on the need for the prudent use of water and electricity through highlighting best practices in the areas of saving natural resources.
The campaign also aims to highlight the huge effort and cost behind delivering water and electricity to consumers, including the maintenance and management of water and electricity lines and networks across the expanding emirate.
For instance, washing machines can use as much as 110 to 130 litres of water per cycle and dishwashers up to 35 litres per cycle. Yet a full dishwasher is more water-efficient than washing the same load by hand.
“This campaign is an integral part of the Your Decision campaign which targets all segments of society, including individuals and organisations.
“The new initiative provides practical yet simple tips to reduce water and electricity consumption and thus preserve the environment and natural resources of the emirate.
“We want to enhance consumer awareness on a very critical environmental issue that requires the involvement of both public and private sectors in Dubai.”
Iconic Abu Dhabi landmark gets touch of colour
Iconic Abu Dhabi landmark gets touch of colour
By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: August 10, 2008
Abu Dhabi: For the past decade the iconic painting of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan has been a landmark in Abu Dhabi, located on the corniche at the corner of Emirates Palace.
The painting portrays the side of Shaikh Zayed that earned him respect: humble, traditional, authoritative and loyal. This larger than life 35-metre display towers over the city of Abu Dhabi.
Its painter, Liaqat Ali Khan, was a long-time resident of Abu Dhabi and this was his masterpiece and his personal legacy to a country that has transformed his life.
As Khan turned 60, he bid Abu Dhabi farewell and ventured back to his native Pakistan in April.
Having painted 1,060 portraits of the UAE’s prinicipal founder, Khan put his brushes away and said an an emotional goodbye.
But as the sun beat down on the decade-old painting with its fading colours and chipped paint, Abu Dhabi started calling back its artist for a final touch-up of his masterpiece.
Happy
Khan could not resist the offer to come back.
“I was so happy when I got a phone call from Abu Dhabi Municipality and immediately said yes. I didn’t even think about it.”
Since July 29, Khan has been sitting on a plastic chair overlooking the painting directing two men on a crane.
“This is much harder than when I first painted this. In 1997 I painted this in a warehouse and I had 12 workers,” he says.
For the past week, Khan has been spending 12 hours a day redoing the painting.
“We took all the paint off and then repainted everything,” Khan says, while holding a large poster of the original photograph of Shaikh Zayed that inspired the painting. “This will probably be good for at least five more years and then the paint will be affected by the humidity and heat again, but I would love to come back again in five years,” he laughs.
His reputation preceded him to Pakistan and he has become a much celebrated artist in his hometown.
Asked why he loves this picture so much, Khan answers without a pause. “It reflects who Shaikh Zayed was, his smile was from his heart.”
Abu Dhabi stresses $20b oil plan
Abu Dhabi stresses $20b oil plan
By Himendra Mohan Kumar, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: August 07, 2008
Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Government has reiterated its plans to invest as much as $20 billion (Dh74 billion) by 2010 to increase its crude output capacity by 30 per cent to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
“Revenues from oil and gas and [oil] products constitute 35 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s gross domestic product, 80 per cent of the government’s revenues and 90 per cent of the total exports,” according to the Abu Dhabi Economic and Social Report 2008.
The emirate’s current oil production capacity is 2.7 million bpd, the report said.
Abu Dhabi’s production accounts for nearly 94 per cent of the UAE’s crude output. The UAE’s oil output currently is about 2.66 million bpd.
The country’s proven oil reserves of 97.8 billion barrels make up 7.9 per cent of the world’s total reserves.
The official selling price (OSP) of Abu Dhabi crude oil grades from January to June this year averaged $108.32 per barrel, a whopping 73.6 per cent rise on the year and in line with soaring global oil prices. The average price of Adnoc’s crude grades for January-June 2007 was $62.39.
According to the Abu National Oil Company, the official selling price of its crude grades – Murban, Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif and Upper Zakum – averaged $135.68 for July 2008 on the back of a record performance that peaked on July 11 when prices on the international market touched of $147.27 a barrel.
Since then, prices have fallen sharply to below $120 a barrel, as an economic downturn in the US, the world’s biggest oil importer, has slowed consumer demand.
Estimates by McKinsey & Company show that Abu Dhabi is likely to accumulate an investible surplus of $800 billion by 2020 due to massive inflows of oil revenues. They say that of the $2 trillion investible surplus flowing to the six Gulf countries, $800 billion will come to Abu Dhabi. This is based on an estimated average price of $50 per barrel between 2005 and 2020.
Windfall
Should the price momentum of the first-half of the year sustain in the second half, the UAE’s export revenues are poised to race past the $100 billion mark in 2008.
According to the UAE Central Bank, the country’s oil exports in 2007 were valued at Dh261.42 billion, up 22.5 per cent on year. The average price of the UAE’s crude in 2007 was $71.70 per barrel, 12.9 per cent higher than the 2006 price of $63.53.
The UAE’s oil will last 92 years at current production levels, estimates show. Estimates of International Energy Agency show the UAE’s sustainable crude production capacity could rise 9.12 per cent to 3.11 million bpd by 2013.
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