Abu Dhabi gets more green spaces for recreational activities

The Abu Dhabi City Municipality modernises public parks to attract more visitors and to provide best outdoor facilities for residents.

The Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM) has provided modern facilities at two of the biggest public parks located at Khaleej Al Arabi Street.
The two parks spread over 10 hectares each underwent extensive maintenance and re-development work that saw the addition of several new facilities.
The recreational project is part of Abu Dhabi plans to raise the standard of civic facilities for its citizens and residents.
To this end, the municipality has built a modern infrastructure for providing best facilities for families who wanted to spend the weekend with their children in a park.
"The capital city really provides best available facilities for recreation and family picnic," said Azhar Saeed, a local banker, who regularly takes his children for an outing.
"Parks and playgrounds provide fun and amusement for children who after a busy and hard week at school find some time to run around in the open air."
In 2015 alone, ADM developed five parks in residential areas in and around the capital.
The famous Capital Park that is located on the Salam Street also opened its doors to families in late December providing children latest amusement swings and rides.
The key projects developed by the Municipality last year included the construction of children's playgrounds in the capital city, in addition to constructing four residential parks in the newly developed township of Mohammed Bin Zayed City. One park has been built in Khalifa City, while Al Shamkhah got another park. The other two parks are Al Adlah Park and the Al Khatm Park on Al Ain road.
Abdul Fateh, an Egyptian, who takes out his family to the park every week, said: "My family joins other friends for a get together almost every week, in any of the park where we spend entire day chatting and playing with children."
The two parks on Khaleej Al Arabi Street saw a massive maintenance and redevelopments that included a connection to a main fresh water pipeline, which also feeds Abu Dhabi Island.
"The project is aimed at uplifting the quality of services. This drive echoes the vision and plan of the municipal system in Abu Dhabi to improving infrastructure and expanding parks and recreational facilities by allocating more green space per capita and diversifying entertainment options," the ADCM said.
Park No. 1 on the Khaleej Al Arabi Street, which was established in 2005, spans an area of over 10.1 hectares, with green spaces covering 96 per cent, of the park's total area. An area of 83,555 square metres has been covered with grass, plants and shrubs and 131 species of trees have been planted in the park.
Another 100 square metres has been decorated with different flowers and cactus species. The park contains walking tracks, five varieties of children's games, playgrounds, ladies/gents bathrooms, a fountain, nine recycling bins, and directional signs to serve visitors.
The park boasts of a strategic location and charming water views, parking spaces, as well as special needs parking spaces.
Park No 2 also offers three playing areas for children, ladies/gents bathrooms, fountain, sunshades, recycling bins, and barbecue areas, besides other modern facilities.
haseeb@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi