Eight towers licensed in a month

He said this is the first time such a number of towers has been licensed by Dubai Municipality in a month.

"This is an indication of the pace of construction activities taking place in the city. Architects and engineers in the Building Department had a tough time this month analysing drawings and other documents related to these superbly-designed buildings," he said.

He noted that of the towers licensed this month, five were in Dubai Marina with the tallest being a 100-story tower and the smallest being a 37-story tower. There are two towers coming up along Sheikh Zayed Road, the first one with a height of 49 stories and the second one with 70 stories. Dubai Land will have an Auto Mall complex with an office tower as tall as 38 stories and a 3-story cars showroom. This will be located in the Sports City.

Saleh noted that the municipality engineers' team had done thorough engineering analyses of all the towers before licensing them. After that, a third-party audit was carried out with the help of a private consultant in order to be doubly sure of the towers' safety and security.

"The towers' safety in terms of their resistance to earthquake and winds was one of the focuses of our analysis. Then, thermal insulation systems and environmental impact were also studied carefully," he said.

Saleh noted that while licensing high-rise towers, Dubai Municipality usually considers innovations in designs and efficiency of the buildings in general.

"This is keeping in mind the excellent architectural designs Dubai's buildings are known for and in line with the vision of the Building Department at Dubai Municipality to turn our buildings into a dream of the world," he said.