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Dubai Municipality completes renaming of streets

The move comes as part of the project to rename roads and areas in the emirate and replacing the old numbers with local names to preserve the national identity.

The Dubai Municipality has completed the renaming of all main streets in the emirate and 50 per cent of sub streets and expects to finish the installation of signboards by the end of the first half of 2015.

The municipality also accomplished the naming of all intersection roads with Shaikh Zayed Road, Umm Suqeim 1,2 and3 areas, Al Sufouh 1 and 2 areas and Dubai Marina, and works on the renaming of intersections in Oud Matina 1 and 2, Nad Al Sheba 2 and 4, Dubai Investment Park and Jebel Ali Industrial Area.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of the municipality, said the move comes as part of the huge project of the Dubai Government to rename roads and areas in the emirate and replacing the old numbers with local names to preserve the national identity through traditional names inspired by the Emirati culture in line with the international practices in this field.

“The project includes selection of over 7,500 names for different main and sub roads in coordination with the Roads and Transport Authority for which the civic body has considered the entire elements of Dubai’s history, culture and traditions with the aim at introducing Dubai’s heritage to the generations to come in all ways possible,” Lootah said.

He explained that the names of streets have been selected using different methodologies. Firstly, the areas have been divided into sectors of similar nature in terms of the use and location such as Jumeirah, Zabeel and Jebel Ali considering the land use, nature of site, historic heritage, development projects etc.

“For example, streets in a district as Jumeirah will have names bearing marine features duvh as boats, fishes, marine life etc., since it is about beach and sea. Similarly, streets in Deira and Bur Dubai will have historical and heritage names, while inland areas like Mushrif and Al Aweer will bear names of local trees, famous Arab personalities, poets etc.”

The municipality also studied the best practices executed by international cities in this regard and had urged the public to suggest names for their localities based on the traditional occupations, tools used for the work and other activities of their area such as fishing, hunting, and sailing.

“Dubai Municipality has already started the implementation of its new addressing system called ‘Makani’ using digital codes with the aim at helping people of all nationalities reach their desired locations without using any language by simply entering the area or building code with one-metre accuracy. The residents of Dubai now can use both systems to find out their locations,” he said.