ABSTRACT
Besides being oft referred to as the gold-smuggling centre of the world, as a flourishing entrepot, and as the sparkling Venice of the Arab world, Dubai is well known for having rapidly developed, before it began to benefit from oil receipts, an advanced urban infrastructure. Before it joined the United Arab Emirates, in 19 7 1, it could boast a public administration system comprising a central secretariat and departments with responsibility for education, health, customs, petroleum, passports, the police force, land and property, and postal services. Dubai town had a municipal council, which was founded in March 1957 and became responsible for such varied public utilities as slaughterhouses, markets, baths, fire-brigades and hospitals. Town planning was practised. Among the shaykhdom’s achievements were the founding in 1965 of the first Chamber of Commerce on the Trucial Coast, a vast increase of water and electricity supplies, the building of an international airport, the evolution of a modern banking system, and the construction of the largest drv-dock in the world.
