Nasser al Sheikh, director general of the department of finance, looks out over Dubai’s creek from his office and points out a low rise building where the ruler used to hold court.

The seat of government built by Sheikh Rashid in the 1950s was right on the main artery of economic life for this ambitious city state, the creek. Dredging this waterway allowed the founder of modern Dubai to gain prominence in the Gulf as a trade hub and lift the city out of decades of post-war poverty.