The branding of Dubai has to be one of the greatest PR triumphs of the past 20 years.The program airs in the UK on Panorama: Slumdogs and Millionaires, BBC One, Monday 6 April at 8.30pm.
It works out incredibly well for the developers - they can charge first world fortunes for the dream villas and apartments, but pay third world salaries to the men actually building them.
Many in Dubai say that this is just globalisation working, and that while the lives of the workers, and the salaries they are paid, look bad to us, to them, where they come from, it's good.
This excuse doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
The story of Dubai's immigrant construction workers shocks and depresses in several different stages. The poor and often illiterate men, who come here in their millions from the Indian sub-continent, are getting exploited from so many different angles that it's sometimes hard to know who to be angry at.
Yes, there are abuses and the downturn in the economy has played a role. But on the whole these workers are here because it's better than the alternative of being home. Why else are they upset when there is talk of limiting the amount of time an expat can work in the country? And when considering how poorly they live consider that most are sending home a large portion of what they earn.
