DUBAI - Dubai is back on track after the financial crisis and "life would be boring" without challenges, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said in remarks published on Monday.

"We are back. Of course we are back," Sheikh Mohammed said in an interview with news agency Bloomberg.

Dubai is still recovering from the global financial crisis that brought its decade-long property boom to an abrupt halt and left its large state firms, which had borrowed billions of dollars, mired in debt.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is also prime minister and vice president of the UAE, said he was confident that the emirate will meet its economic challenges.

"This is a challenge. Life would be boring if there's no challenge," he was quoted as saying.

Dubai, which had earned a reputation for doing things on its own, received billions of dollars in aid from oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi when the financial crisis hit and state firms found themselves unable to pay their bills.

Sheikh Mohammed insisted Dubai should not be seen in isolation from the rest of the country.

"When I talk, I talk about Dubai, but we have to talk about the whole UAE as a country," he told Bloomberg.

ALL PROJECTS GOING AHEAD

The Dubai ruler said "all the projects that were there are going ahead" but some may be delayed for six months to a year, according to the news agency.

"We do things in Abu Dhabi, we do things in Dubai, we do things in Sharjah. But the completion will be great," he was quoted as saying.

Tens of billions of dollars worth of projects were cancelled in the wake of the financial crisis as property prices nosedived and financing dried up, with many sitting half built or still on the drawing board.

Property prices in Dubai are more than 50 percent down from their 2008 peak and analysts have pointed out the real estate sector is headed for more trouble amid an increasing supply of homes and offices.

The emirate should mothball or demolish buildings to try and limit over-supply that could leave half of office space unoccupied in some areas, consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report this month.

Dubai's debt, estimated to be well over $100 billion, also continues to hamper economic recovery.

Dubai World said recently it has reached a creditor approval for its $24.9 billion debt plan, while property developer Nakheel, the company behind the man-made Palm islands, is hoping to complete its debt restructuring by the end of 2010.
 

Personal life and education

He is the third of Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum's four sons (members of Dubai's ruling family Al Maktoum and descendants of the House of Al-Falasi, of which he is the tribal leader^[1]). From the age of four, Sheikh Mohammed was privately tutored in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In 1955, he began his formal education at Al Ahmedia School. At the age of 10, he moved to Al Shaab School, and two years later, he went to Dubai Secondary School. In 1966, he and his cousin, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum, attended the Bell Educational Trust's English Language School in the United Kingdom.
His senior wife is Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum whom he married in 1979. His best-known junior wife is HRH Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, daughter of King Hussein of Jordan and half-sister of current King Abdullah II of Jordan, whom he married on April 10, 2004, and with whom he has one child, a daughter, AlJalila, born December 2, 2007. Sheikh Mohammed has 19 officially acknowledged children: eight sons and eleven daughters.
Al Maktoum, his sons, and his daughters are known to be avid in the art of traditional Arabic poems, arts, and take part in projects to aid developing countries such as Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Yemen. He writes poetry in Nabati (colloquial Arabic.) ^.They are also sport enthusiasts, especially in horse and camel racing. For example, in the 15th Asian Games in 2006, his son Rashid took the individual gold in Endurance, his sons Rashid, Ahmed, Majid, and Hamdan took the team gold in Endurance, his niece Latifa took a bronze in Show Jumping, and his daughter Maitha led the UAE team in taekwondo .