Low-cost homes in Dubai to ease bottleneck?

Dubai

WALID Zahra has a 25-minute trip home from his office in Dubai - if you don't count the two hours that he spends waiting at a café for the traffic to clear. "I decided it's better to spend that time reading papers than getting stressed in my car," the 27-year-old human resources worker said.

Like about half the people who work in Dubai, Mr Zahra, a Lebanese father of one, can't afford to live there, requiring his commute from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE) sheikhdom of Sharjah. As the roads grow increasingly clotted, the city is introducing ways to add modestly priced homes to a mix dominated by luxury villas and high-end apartments.

"We can't just keep building wider roads, bridges and tunnels," said Abdullah Rafia, assistant director-general of engineering and planning for the municipal government. "Affordable housing is the solution to the mobility problem in Dubai." The issue is urgent for the UAE's business hub, which depends on a largely foreign-b…