UAE, Inc.

Dubai: Dubai Cable Co's sales revenues increased 30 per cent in 2004 to Dh687 million, officials said. Dubai Cable Co [Ducab] received total orders worth Dh719 million in 2004, an increase of 45 per cent over 2003. Ducab's specialised fire resistant cable, developed for Delhi Metro, was our flagship product in 2004,' said Colin Paskins, managing director.

The company will try to secure a similar contract for the Dubai Light Rail project when the contract is awarded later this year, he said.

Ducab, jointly owned by the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi with equal shareholding, is to commission its 18,000 square metre second production plant in Abu Dhabi, built at a cost of Dh125 million.

For a government owned company DuCab sounds pretty well run, and the same can be said of most government owned companies in the UAE. But it's not transparent that it makes money and is efficient -- the appearance that it is could be because it is underwritten by the government. Let's transfer ownership of DuCab to the citizens of the UAE and make the stock tradeable. And allow the owners the right to change the management.