Dubai wins 'Best Environmentally Safe City' award from Arab Towns Organisation

Abdullah Raffia, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Affairs, received the award recently in a ceremony held in Doha, Qatar, in the presence of Sheikh AbdulRahman Bin Khalifa bin AbdulAziz Al Thani, Qatar's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture who is chairs the award committee, and Abdul Aziz Al Adasani, Secretary General of the ATO.

Commenting on the award, Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the city, despite its phenomenal growth in various spheres, follows a balanced environment policy in order to accomplish sustainable development.

"Environment conservation assumes top priority in our development plans. Dubai Municipality has introduced safety and protection of environment as a key strategic objective in our race for excellence,"

said Mr. Lootah.

The Municipality has won the same award from ATO in 1995 in recognition of its good track-record in environment management and pollution control.

In 1998, the municipality won the Environment Awareness Award of ATO for its role in spreading environment and health awareness in the emirate of Dubai as well as for its strategies to maintain general cleanliness within the Emirate, its promotional campaigns, undertaken using all types of media, for its care of the marine and terrestrial nature reserves and for its work to preserve bio-diversity so as ensure continued environmental sustainability.

During the same year, the organised conferred on the municipality the Architectural Heritage Award in recognition of its outstanding role in preserving the architectural heritage of Dubai. Other awards won by the municipality from the same organisation include Award for Conservation of Architectural Heritage, 1988, City Plantation Award, 1995.

In total the municipality has won some 35 awards from different regional and international organisations in recognition of its accomplishments in various fields.