[ilyas08]

(Fortune Magazine) --
It's always tough driving in the wilds of East Africa. But in the tiny country of Djibouti, our driver explains, it's tougher than usual. "Djiboutian goats don't scare," he says, holding down the horn and swerving. We're driving 100 mph the wrong way down a winding road through terrain so apocalyptic that British soldiers, back when they ruled the world, nicknamed this parched earth the Furthest Shag of the Never-Never Land.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a slight man of 53 with rugged features and a serious face, rides shotgun. He is the founder and chairman of Dubai World, a holding company that, he says, has $100 billion in assets, including one of the world's largest port operators, a mammoth private equity house, retailer Barneys New York, and the developer of Dubai's odd palm-tree-shaped islands. (You also may remember that one of its subsidiaries had control of six U.S. ports until Congress objected to handing the keys to a Middle Eastern company.)

Bin Sulayem is on his way to Lake Assal, a giant salt lake that could be the capital of Never-Never Land. Hidden in a crater some 500 feet below sea level, it looks almost prehistoric, with turquoise water lapping on vast expanses of blinding-white salt flats surrounded by black volcanic peaks. It's here, more than an hour from electricity or running water, that bin Sulayem says he wants to build a five-star resort complete with a spa and golf course.

He admits there are complications. For one thing, how do you build a golf course on what looks like a polar ice cap? "No problem," he says, the salt crunching under his feet like fresh snow. "We will just paint the golf balls orange or black." Swimming might be a different matter. "The last time I was here I went right in," he says as he walks up and dips his hand into the warm, silky water, the planet's saltiest. "But with this wind the water will get in our mouths, and it will burn."

Bin Sulayem sees Djibouti (pronounced ja-boo-tee) as a future Dubai - a sort of rags-to-riches story in the making. It sits on a strategic port at the mouth of the Red Sea, and has untouched beaches and that bizarre salt lake. Of course it also has little fresh water, a nearly 60% unemployment rate, and a chief export business of skins and hides. But in the past few years Dubai World has invested more than $2 billion here, in projects such as a new port and free-trade zone, a luxury hotel, and paved roads. It even bought an airline to be the country's national carrier.

It sounds crazy unless you consider what happened in bin Sulayem's hometown. Just 30 years ago Dubai wasn't much more than a struggling stretch of desert with a tiny bit of oil. Today, thanks to companies like Dubai World, it is a bustling mecca of Las Vegas-style tourism and New York-style capitalism with countless luxury hotels, dozens of skyscrapers, and 20% GDP growth in 2006. Bin Sulayem believes he can recreate that magic in Djibouti.

[une sista]

ilyas08, le Tuesday 8 April 2008, 0:35, dit :

(Fortune Magazine) --
S. ports until Congress objected to handing the keys to a Middle Eastern company.)

Bin Sulayem is on his way to Lake Assal, a giant salt lake that could be the capital of Never-Never Land. Hidden in a crater some 500 feet below sea level, it looks almost prehistoric, with turquoise water lapping on vast expanses of blinding-white salt flats surrounded by black volcanic peaks. It's here, more than an hour from electricity or running water, that bin Sulayem says he wants to build a five-star resort complete with a spa and golf course.

are u kidding me? a 5 star resort with a spa ???????? au lac assal qui plus est ! mm moi une eternelle optimiste j arrive pas a y croire quoique le lac assal transforme en un resort des iles fidji ca promet

[obama]

ou est situer dubai