Dubai, Abu Dhabi top region in quality of living

Abu Dhabi: Dubai and Abu Dhabi rank highest in the region in quality of living standards, a Mercer ‘Quality of Living’ survey revealed. Dubai ranked 73 and Abu Dhabi 78 in terms of quality of living. In terms of city infrastructure, Dubai ranked 34 globally while Abu Dhabi stood at 72, the survey showed. The survey also showed that Doha ranked 106, Manama 126, Kuwait City 119, Riyadh 157 and Muscat 103. Manama, Cairo (141) and Damascus (197) had the highest drops in the region (dropping 13, six and 18 places respectively). This decline was attributed to unstable internal affairs and political unrest in the cities. The Mercer survey reaffirmed that development in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are on par with major cities around the world, providing a favourable atmosphere for employees to thrive, not only at work but in their personal lives as well. A special area of focus in the 2012 survey was city infrastructure, taking into consideration electricity supply, water availability, telephone and mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion and the availability of international flights from local airports. Importance of infrastructure “Infrastructure is crucial to maintaining a high quality of living and should not be underestimated. It can cause the city severe disadvantages when it is underprovided and a significant edge when it is well established,” said Zaid Kamhawi, Mercer’s IPS Business Leader in the Middle East. “It is no surprise that there is a near perfect correlation between a city’s infrastructure ranking and the overall quality of living ranking. The constant pace of progress and development found in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are, no doubt, major contributing factors to their positions as top-ranking cities in the region.” He said the high ranking in the infrastructure index reflects a combination of high level of public services, with its extensive public transportation system, including airports, buses and railroad services. “Infrastructure in Dubai is among the best in the world, in part due to their first-class airport facilities, telecommunication services, international and local connectivity and a high standard of public services,” said Kamhawi. Dubai beat Geneva (47), Miami (48), San Francisco (55), Barcelona (57), Rome (72) and Kuala Lumpur (77), surpassing major global cities in terms of infrastructure readiness and development. Source: Gulf News