DUBAI — Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates were voted the best cities in Middle East for the quality of living, according to 2012 Mercer survey. Dubai also ranked the highest in the region for city infrastructure, ranking at 34 worldwide. Tel Aviv came third in the Middle East when it comes to the quality of living and second in infrastructure after Dubai. Abu Dhabi and Muscat, Oman, were ranked the next highest in the regions in terms of infrastructure. Elsewhere in the region, Doha, is at 102, Tunis, ranks 103 and Manama, Bahrain is at 110, according to the survey. According to the report, most of the regions' cities ranked below 100 in infrastructure amongst the rest of the world placing Iraq's capital Baghdad at the lowest. Yemen's capital Sana'a was ranked the second lowest city in the MENA region for infrastructure. “The ongoing turmoil in many countries across North Africa and the Middle East has led to serious security issues for locals and expatriates,” said Slagin Parakatil, business spokesperson, Mercer. Parakatil added that due to the ongoing violence and demonstrations calling to their governments, the cities “led to serious instability within the region.” “Countries such as Syria and Mali have seen their quality of living levels drop substantially. Employers should continually monitor the situation in these countries, as circumstances can degrade rapidly.
Companies need to be able to proactively implement mitigation plans, such as emergency repatriation, or adjust expatriate compensation packages accordingly,” Parakatil added. — SG/Agencies
