Financial crisis had no impact on Dubai Municipality services, asserts Hussain Lootah

Lootah was addressing media persons and members from the general public at a special Ramadan majlis held by Dubai Press Club on the services sector.

The vision that drives Dubai is uniquely far-sighted that it is always ahead of the developments that surprise the city, he said, adding that the principal concern of the municipality has been to provide adequate infrastructure to keep pace with the developments.

Disclosing that the total number of employees at the municipality has reached 11099, spread over 44 organizational units, Lootah said Dubai Municipality had been able to accomplish most of the plans and directives it received from H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

"E-governance has been implemented so successfully that almost all the services under the municipality are now within its reach," he added.

Calling up on the public to cooperate fully with the municipality in healthy waste disposal and in waste reduction through recycling and reuse, he said the mechanisms for waste disposal in the city - both recycling and landfills - are currently well-equipped, but added that they might need to develop into waste to energy strategies as the amount of garbage increases over the years.

"In order to learn the best practices from around the globe, we have signed 16 memoranda of understanding with major global cities. We never cease to learn and improve our services so that the public is always satisfied with what they receive from us," he explained.

Lootah said that a number of studies are currently underway to gauge the city's requirements even as it grows bigger in terms of size and population figures. "We are confident that our services will always be compatible with the ever changing needs of the society that we serve," he added.

Answering a question from the audience, Lootah said the financial crisis had no direct impact on the services offered by the municipality.

"Ours being a service-oriented body, we remain impervious to the impact of the crisis. We have not cut down any of our projects nor have we scaled down the extent of our operations and new projects," he clarified.

A number of senior officials from the municipality also participated in the discussion, which was attended by a large number of media persons and members of the general public. The majlis with Dubai Municipality was the third major program held by the Press Club on the occasion of Ramadan.