WHEN people think of Dubai, the image that usually comes to mind is of fantastic hotels such as the Burj al Arab, built in the shape of an Arabian dhow sail .

Multi-billion dollar company Emaar is responsible for those hotels, and most of Dubai's other developments during the past 20 years.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon knows that the company likes building near water, and sometimes even in it.

So when he took senior staff from Emaar on a flight around the Tees Valley yesterday, most of the sites he showed them - Middlehaven, near the Riverside Stadium, Victoria Harbour at Hartlepool, and the North Bank close to the Tees Barrage - were by the water.

Although the planning and construction of any developments are years away, will we one day see sail-shaped hotels in the middle of the Tees?

Anything is possible where Emaar - and Ray Mallon - is concerned.

He was introduced to head of Emaar Mohamed Ali Alabbar on a fact-finding visit to Dubai by Trevor Arnold, of Home International, of Thornaby, Teesside.

Mr Mallon hoped to get ideas for the transformation of Middlesbrough and was honoured when Mr Alabbar spent time with him discussing his plans.

A wish-list of schemes for Middlehaven included a hotel shaped like the game Kerplunk, and a dice-shaped casino.

But Mr Mallon was realistic about the obstacles facing any such developments when he spoke to the delegation yesterday.

"This is not Dubai," he said. "We have crime problems, anti-social behaviour problems.

"It is important that I am open about this with our delegation. If people don't feel safe and they don't feel good about themselves, then they will not visit Middlesbrough.

"But there has been a drop in crime. Two years ago Middlesbrough suffered 28,000 crimes a month, and now it is 2,100.

"It is absolutely vital we create a clean, safe environment and I would submit that we have made incredible progress, but we want to make more and over the next year or so, we will reduce crime even further."

Mr Mallon said he wanted to regenerate people as well as buildings in the region, and convince them to be positive about their futures.

"Some people in this area have lost hope," he said.

"I have hope, and hopefully you will be investing in what you see in the next 24 hours."

The delegation will be visiting Darlington's 75-acre Haughton Road site, which is the area most people see when they first arrive by train in the Tees Valley.

"It is really important that this area is developed and so creates a good first impression," said project director Neil Graham.

"The site has huge potential and its redevelopment will bring positive benefits to Darlington and the rest of the Tees Valley."

The chief executive of Tees Valley Regeneration Joe Docherty said although nothing formal had been agreed, he was excited by what may result from the visit.

Mr Docherty said: "At this stage, nothing concrete has been proposed, however, while we are talking to developers all the time, it is rare for a group of this size and quality to fly half-way round the world and spend so much time in one area.

"We are offering the group an early chance to find out more about our exciting and innovative projects and the opportunity to invest in some of the biggest and best schemes ever seen in the Tees Valley and, indeed, the North-East."

Work is about to get under way on a multi-million pound college at Haughton Road, and other redevelopment plans for the site will be unveiled next month, and are believed to include a residential development, offices, and a hotel and conference centre.

Victoria Harbour, in Hartlepool, close to the Historic Quay and Jacksons Landing, also has development potential for Emaar. The site is about to receive a multi-million pound facelift linking the quay to Hartlepool's Headland.

The site may appeal to Emaar because it is beside the sea and that part of Hartlepool is already well visited. It is already earmarked for several developments, including homes and business use.

Delegates flew over North Bank, close to the Tees Barrage, which it is hoped will link up Stockton with Middlesbrough, and tie in with the white water development at the barrage, and the Teesdale area of Thornaby, which has already been transformed. North Bank has been earmarked for business, offices and leisure developments.

But the site Mr Mallon is really pushing is Middlehaven. The wasteland around Middlesbrough FC's Riverside stadium is likely to be the site of a new Middlesbrough College, and hotels and leisure facilities will be built there. It is this vision that Mr Mallon hopes will attract the company to invest.

He said: "These people don't see boundaries and neither do I. When they looked at the masterplan for Middlehaven there are lots of opportunities for them.

"They will be looking at our masterplan for the site and deciding what they fancy."

Mr Mallon hopes Emaar will look at the wasteland at Middlehaven and see Dubai as it once was, a desert ripe for development