Dubai to have 12,200 hectares of green space

In the seven years of run-up to the Expo year 2020, the green space in Dubai is projected to grow double of what has been developed over the past 15 years.

The Dubai Municipality’s ‘Dubai 2020’ vision has projected a total of 12,200 hectares of green space through landscaping and horticulture projects, an official said at the Urban Agenda 2020 conference on Tuesday.

Figures revealed in the presentation of Kamal Mohammed Azayem, a mechanical engineering expert at the Building Studies Section of the Municipality’s Building Department showed that by 2013, Dubai had developed 6,381hectares of green space through landscaping and horticulture projects from just 1,733 hectares in 1999.

While this is set to almost double seven years from now, the Municipality has also vouched to use nearly 380 square kilometres of the emirate for cultivation purposes.

These plans are part of the civic body’s efforts to enhance the green and scenic corridors of the emirate and preserve the natural environment which form the framework for a sustainable future.

Earlier on Monday, the Director General of Dubai Municipality, Hussain Nasser Lootah, said the total green space in Dubai has increased by over four million square meters in the last three years.

“This is set to grow in line with the Government’s commitment to creating more sustainable outdoor environments,” Lootah said in his the opening speech at the second edition of Outdoor Design, Build and Supply Exhibition. The two-day Urban Agenda 2020 Conference ran alongside the Exhibition.

“The UAE currently stipulates that nearly 25 per cent of the project development area must be set aside for landscaping, in addition to various emirates across the country focusing on building new parks and landscaped zones. Statistics from Dubai Municipality highlight this trend. Over the last 30 years in Dubai alone, the number of landscaping projects completed per year has risen by over 600 per cent.”

Lootah also pointed out that with the real estate sector witnessing renewed growth, and governments becoming increasingly focused on green space development, the GCC region’s landscaping industry will witness growing demand for energy and water-efficient technologies as well as qualified horticultural and agricultural engineering experts.

The Director of Public Parks and Horticulture at Dubai Municipality, Taleb Abdul Kareem Julfar said: “Dubai winning the right to host World Expo 2020 is a natural step in the UAE’s next stage of real estate and infrastructure growth, which will witness increasing demand for sustainable outdoor space in the coming years.”

Unlike many developed nations who are in the process of shelving infrastructure plans, he noted, developments throughout the UAE are on the rise.

“This underlines the importance of further integrating green space and urban landscaping into infrastructure projects, not just in the UAE but across the region,” he said.

Along with increasing the green areas, the department aims to use the best and most suitable plants available to give a wonderful view for the roads and intersections in the city of Dubai in preparation to welcome the prestigious Expo2020 event, the municipality had announced in December.

When tourists, traders and other Expo visitors fly down to Dubai from across the world, they will be fittingly greeted with floral logo of Expo2020 and welcome notes with plants at various places. Roadside planting forms another major part of the plan which will see flower plants of various hues used to beautify the important places and event locations during the World Expo.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com