Al Tayer : Dubai committed to maintain growth momentum

Addressing the UAE - Germany Economic Partnership Forum, which concluded on Friday (13 May) in the German city of Essen, Mattar Al Tayer, Deputy Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the total annual budget of Dubai Municipality exceeds 650 million US dollars (AED2.38 billion) with approximately 90 per cent allocated to infrastructure development.

"At the moment, our five-year future outlook includes two billion dollars for roads and bridges (AED7.34 billion), 3.4 billion dollars (AED12.47 billion) for the Rail Project, 300 million dollars (AED1.1 billion) for Drainage and Irrigation Projects and 700 million dollars (AED2.56 billion) for Public Projects," he said.

He added that Dubai's road network is comparable to the most efficient road networks in the world with a total length nearing 10,000 lane-km and a total overall investment of 2.5 billion dollars (AED9.18 billion).

"The road network is under continuous expansion and development with numerous major new projects costing two billion dollars (AED7.34 billion) including an 8-lane tunnel under the airport, a new 12-lane bridge across Dubai creek, several major interchanges and a double deck over one of Dubai's major roads. Moreover, it is expected that Dubai Municipality will invest another two billion dollars in major road projects from 2007 to 2010," said Al Tayer.

The road network is monitored and managed through the automated traffic control center using the latest available technology. Moreover, an Intelligent Transportation System including a Dynamic Navigation System and Variable Sign Messages is currently under development and will be operational by December 2005.

"To further improve transportation efficiency, we are developing a Light Rail Transit System with a total length of 67 km, two lines, 45 stations and a total budget of 3.4 billion dollars (AED12.47 billion). Construction of this important project will start in the next few weeks and it will be operational in the beginning of 2010," he said.

"Dubai's sewage, drainage and irrigation network covers 78.7 per cent of the area of the emirate approaching our target of 80 per cent coverage in 2005. Dubai's Sewage Treatment Plant is one of the most modern in the area and its effluent water is recycled and used in irrigation. The total investment in sewage, irrigation and drainage projects exceeds 1.5 billion dollars (AED5.5 billion). To improve performance we are building a new Sewage Treatment Plant and undertaking more than 40 projects costing 300 million dollars (AED1.1 billion) in the next five years," Al Tayer said.

Dubai Municipality embraces the sustainable development doctrine, which evolved during the "Earth Summit" in Rio Di Janeiro in 1992. "Out of this conviction, we embarked on several environmental projects including the Treatment of Medical and Hazardous Waste, Conservatory protection and an electronic network for monitoring Air quality. Our eco-environmental projects have yielded both environmental and economical dividends and we are currently planning more than 50 environmental projects with a total overall budget of 20 million dollars (AED73 million) including a project for the Recycling of Domestic Solid Waste and another for the Recycling of Building and Construction waste."

"Our contribution to the development of Dubai does not stop at building roads and sewage networks but also extends to providing different public facilities including Educational Buildings such as schools, colleges and universities, Governmental Public Buildings, Convention Centers, Sports facilities, public libraries and parks. We are also responsible for the conservation and rehabilitation of historical sites and buildings. Over 89 public facilities projects are currently under design and construction with a total budget of over 700 million dollars (AED2.56 billion). Examples of these projects include a university, a technical college, a large theme park among others."

Despite its harsh desert climate, Dubai enjoys a very high green area per capita ratio currently at 20.2 square meters per capita. Dubai Municipality aims to achieve a target of 25 square meters per capita by the end of 2012. At the end of 2004, the green area in Dubai was 3.51 per cent of the overall urban area, which exceeded our target of 3.3 per cent. Public parks are spread overall Dubai ranging from small community parks to large multi-functional parks some of which lay directly on the shores of the Arabian Gulf.

"Once we have provided the facilities, we take the responsibility for maintaining and, in many cases, operating them. The services provided by Dubai Municipality through these facilities are varied and they cover many of the aspects of life in the city, including public health, food safety, public transportation, public libraries, among others. To ensure food safety for the citizens, residents and visitors of Dubai we inspect more than 1.6 Million tons of food. One of the most important mandates of Dubai Municipality is to provide plots of land for private investors. These plots are handed over to investors ready with all the required infrastructure. Dubai Municipality works to simplify and facilitate all the formalities of acquiring the land and obtaining all the necessary permits and registrations. To further enhance the efficiency of service provision we privatized several of our services and we are currently working to privatize many other services in order to improve the overall quality of service," he said.

"To provide easier access to information and facilitate service provision, we launched our web site in 2001. We embraced Dubai's e-government concept and we now provide 26 main services with 76 sub-services through our web site, which represents 30 per cent of all our services. These range from applying for a Building permit to the inquiry about parking fines in addition to finding tourist information and maps."

"At Dubai Municipality we pride ourselves on always striving to apply the latest technology and the most advanced management techniques and practices. Our current best practices include the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to provide easy access to accurate, up-to-date spatial data to government, business and the public to facilitate real time mapping and decision-making. Another best practice that we are proud of is the Control System of Parking Meters which covers 1500 parking meters distributed over the city and controlled from a central location through cooperation with the telephone company."

"Our continuous strive for perfection and our use of best practices have earned us 36 international, regional and local awards: International awards include the Pioneer Award from the International Council of Caring Communities in 1999 and the Cannes International Water Award from the Mediterranean Organization for Water, Sustainable Development and Peace in 2001. Regional awards include the Award of Architectural Buildings with local aesthetic value from the organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities in 2000 and the Environmental Awareness Award in 1998 from the Arab Cities Organization."

"Moreover, we established the "Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment". The award is sponsored by Dubai Municipality in cooperation with the UN-Habitat in addition to the numerous partners who come from all continents and cover diverse fields including government, universities and NGOs among others. Examples of recent winners include the "Livable Region Strategic Plan for the Greater Vancouver Regional District" in Canada and "Mother Centre International Network / AG International" in Germany in 2002. In 2004, the winners included "the Urban Agriculture Programme", from Rosario, Argentina and "Human development in Communities" at Aura, Belem-Para, Brazil among others.