KEY POINTS:
Property consultant Darren Soo was on holiday in Rome late last year when an ex-colleague offered him the chance of a lifetime.
How about the opportunity to oversee a big part of the multibillion-dollar maritime city, housing 130,000 people in Dubai? Immediate start, project completion date 2012.
Soo was happy in his work at Auckland property firm Guthridge Haskins and Davies, managing developments of two schools and housing developments in Flat Bush, but felt it was time for a change.
"I'd been in consultancy work for over 15 years and had always wanted to see what the other side of the table [as a developer] looked like," the qualified surveyor said.
Thousands of New Zealanders - one estimate is about 3000 - have moved to Dubai, the city state in the United Arab Emirates racing headlong to become a global business and leisure hub as its already-limited oil revenue dries up.
Over the past year it has attracted about $25 billion in foreign investment, much of it to free-wheeling, low-compliance, low-tax business havens being built by low-paid labour from India and Pakistan.
Soo says he didn't know much about Dubai but, armed with his Lonely Planet guide, made the move.
He was staggered at the scale of the project he is working on - a series of five main residential tower blocks and a 229m tall hotel tower at the heart of the Dubai Maritime City.
His job is in the property, operations and development team and he has responsibility for the development of the Maritime Centre, Marina District and Academic Quarters. The role includes concept design, construction, operations and maintenance.
It is hoped the complex will be the Wall St of the maritime industry, built on Dubai's centuries-old tradition of seafaring and trade.
The complex is being built on 227ha of reclaimed land near Dubai's main commercial port at Rashid. Reclamation of the peninsula began in 2003 and was completed in 2005.
Soo said construction and the installation of infrastructure was well underway and building 12 months ahead of schedule.
Dubai Maritime City is a subsidiary company of Dubai World, backed by the Dubai Government, which owns many of the Emirates' major businesses, real-estate projects, infrastructure, tourist ventures and the airline.
Anyone who has seen numerous mega-plans for Auckland's waterfront become expensive doorstops needs to put on hold the normal scepticism about such an enormous project. For the moment, these do happen in Dubai.
The seal of approval from Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, almost guarantees the project will be finished.
Soo said about two-thirds of the commercial area had been sold to third-party developers to help fund the project.
Dubai has been late to go green but is trying catch up on a grand scale with a 76km metro system and a new building code which demands all new buildings and developments shall incorporate sustainability initiatives.
Soo, in his late 30s, said even routine tasks of recycling paper, plastics and glass is almost unheard of in Dubai and offers potentially enormous opportunities for New Zealand businesses involved in that area.
"Like any part of the world involved in property and land development there is a shortage of skilled and qualified staff and opportunities like this don't come up too often for a surveyor from Napier."
Darren Soo's tips for working in Dubai:
While you breeze into Dubai as a tourist, moving there to work is more complicated.
You need at least 14 passport photos as every form you fill out will require a certifying photograph.
You need an authorised visa before you can open a local bank account.
You need a bank account before you can rent an apartment - rents are now very high, around $40,000 a year, which must be paid up front or in advance instalments.
Salaries are practically tax-free and generally higher than in NZ.
Cars are half the price of NZ cars, petrol around a third and food on a par.
You need an apartment before you can get an alcohol licence, a $50 formality.
* Grant Bradley travelled to Dubai courtesy of Emirates airline.
