World’s Tallest Tower Rising in Dubai
Statistics
| Name | Burj Dubai |
| Location | Dubai, UAE |
| Floors | 162 (estimated) |
| Antenna | --- |
| Spire | 807m |
| Roof | --- |
| Completion | 2008 |
The Burj Dubai is an enormous project started by Emaar Properties and the Samsung corporation. This monstrous project will dwarf any other skyscraper attempted in mankind's history! The expected completion date is set on 2008, but the exact statistics are being held secret.
Upon its completion in 2008 the Burj Dubai will likely become the tallest building in the world. It will beat out the current title holder, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, as well as numerous other proposals including the Freedom Tower at New York City's World Trade Center and the Shanghai World Financial Center. In addition, it will assume the title of the world's tallest structure, surpassing tallest free standing structure on land Toronto CN Tower and the guyed KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, the latter setting a minimum height for the tower at almost 630 m.
Though unconfirmed, Burj Dubai has been through several height increases since its inception. Originally proposed as virtually a clone of the 560 m Grollo Tower proposal from Australia, the tower was soon redesigned to an original Skidmore Owings and Merril design seen above and discussed below. This design stood approximately 705 meters tall. The lead architect, Adrian Smith, felt that the design of the top did not culminate very well, so he sought and received approval to increase it to the currently planned height. It has been explicitly stated that this did not include an addition of more floors [2], which is fitting with Smith's attempts to make the crown more slender. However, the top of the tower, from the 156th floor onward or from 575 meters to the top, will be a steel frame structure, unlike the lower portion's concrete. The developer, Emaar, has stated this steel section may be extended to beat any other tower to the title of tallest, however once the tower is complete the height cannot be changed.
The silvery glass-sheathed concrete building will restore to the Middle East the honor of hosting the earth's tallest structure—a title lost circa 1300 when the Lincoln Cathedral upset the 38-century reign of Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza.
The decision to build Burj Dubai and other skyscrapers is reportedly based on the government's decision to diversify from a trade-based (and oil-reliant) economy to one that is service- and tourism-oriented. While many champion Dubai's strides at changing its core economy, others have raised questions about the necessity of building the world's tallest building in Dubai. Currently, Dubai has a population of 1.5 million, with many areas of it still being desert land (covering over 90% of the 1,517 mileІ country [4]), or very less occupied. However, others feel it is necessary for projects like Burj Dubai to be built in the city, so that Dubai can get more recognition in the outside world. "He (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum) wanted to put Dubai on the map with something really sensational," says Jacqui Josephson, who is the Tourism and VIP delegations executive at Nakheel. [5].
Burj Dubai's main competitor now is actually proposed at a location 50 km (30 miles) away from the Burj Dubai site. This tower, Al Burj (originally planned for the centre of Palm Jumeirah), is being developed by Al Nakheel and is keeping the height under wraps. Also said to be at least 700 m tall, this is a formidable threat to Burj Dubai's world's tallest building status. Also competing with the Burj Dubai, a proposed 1001 metre-high skyscraper may be erected in Kuwait as part of a new city development project called Madinat al-Hareer ("City of Silk"). However, the project is part of a massive redevelopment expected to take 25 years to complete according to some reports [6], compared to Burj Dubai's current progress rate of 7 days per floor (which is expected to pick up as the tower gets closer towards the top); the entire development incorporates an Olympic Stadium, residences, hotels, and retail facilities.
Source: Wikipedia
800,000 Overseas Jobs for Professionals and Skilled Workers
By: Carmela Bignotia, Jan 29, 2007
The next three years will be favorable for all Filipinos who are hoping to land a good job overseas. According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) an estimate of 800 thousand job opportunities awaits OFWs until the year 2009.
The secretary of DoLE Arturo Brion said that high-end jobs would be available in various industries like telecommunications, information technology, medical, tourism, and construction.
The DoLE chief said “The prospects are bright for the next three years (for OFWs) because we have a conservative estimate of more than 800,000 high-end jobs open in the next three years and these are over and above what we have already deployed.”
With more opportunities opening abroad, the number of OFWs are expected to further increase. The government targets to send 1.9 million Filipino workers for employment in high-end jobs until 2009. They are eyeing deployment of OFWS for countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
Rustico Dela Fuente, labor attaché based in Saudi Arabia informed that there would be more construction-related jobs available for Filipinos. The demand for workers are sure to increase over the next five years in Saudi Arabia with the construction of four large economic cities. Workers that would be in-demand are engineers, welders, pipe fitters and surveyors. Construction workers, engineers, and architects are not the only occupations needed as there would also be openings for accountants, market analysts, and economists.
Reydeluz Conferido, Labor Attaché in Japan, said that from 2006 to 2011, Japan would need 8,000 to 10,000 marine officers. According to Conferido, other available jobs in Japan are computer-aided designers, car designers, and telecommunications engineers.
Likewise, other countries like China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei would also be needing the services and expertise of OFWs. The first three countries would need workers for their tourism industries while Brunei would hire workers to work in their oil and gas companies.
Filipino workers are also in-demand in Europe and America. Manuel Imson, Labor Attaché in Geneva, informed that Europe and USA will need workers in the information technology, manufacturing, medical, health, construction, production, banking, finance, and maritime sectors.
MORE JOBS FOR FILIPINOS IN UAE
By: Maria Theresa S. Samante, Mar 21, 2007
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) rank second as top destination country of overseas Filipino workers. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) statistics in 2006 shows that there are 35,493 new hires deployed in this country.
Thus, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Arturo Brion said that a new series of labor agreement between the Philippines and UAE will be signed this year.
He added that this agreement will give job opportunities for Filipinos in the UAE and many of them are high paying jobs.
“Since October 2006, I've been talking with the UAE’s labor minister who wants to travel here for the signing,” Brion said.
OFWs in-demand in Korea
By: Maria Theresa S. Samante, Jan 1, 2007
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are highly in-demand in Korea. According to the director of the Foreign Workers Employment Assistance Team of the Korean Human Resources Development Service Cho Byung Gie, Filipinos are the most sought nationality of Korean employers.
The sad part of the fact that OFWs are highly in-demand in Korea is, there are still many OFWs who don’t get the job because they were not able to pass the Korean Language Test (KLT) which is very important requirement for OFWs who aspire to land a job in Korea.
This is proven by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). According to the government agency, there are more than 20,000 jobs have been available for Filipino applicants since the Employment Permit System (EPS) started in April 2004 and there are only 14,256 OFWs who were able to go to Korea.
Cho and other South Korean labor officials visited Manila to observe how the EPS being implemented here in the Philippines.
