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Dubai to observe Car Free Day

Dubai, Jan 16th, 2012 (WAM) -- Different prominent government departments in the emirate of Dubai have geared up to observe the ‘Car Free Day’ on Wednesday, a globally appreciated environmental initiative by Dubai Municipality .

The environment initiative, for which Dubai Municipality bagged the Idea Arabia Award in 2010, has been organized to encourage the local community to care their cities the best way by reducing the number of vehicles, especially those used on city roads and to raise awareness on alternative means of transport.

Supporting the initiative, more than 2,500 employees in the Dubai Municipality headquarters and the nearby offices of DM will leave their cars at home and use other public transport means to reach their offices.

The initiative, launched in 2010, is being observed this year in cooperation with 13 government institutions, including Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Dubai Land Department, Etisalat, Ministry of Environment and Water, Dubai Police, Dubai Properties Group, Ministry of Public Works, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Ministry of Education, Civil Defence, Dubai World Trade Centre, Department of Economic Development and Al Bayan.

Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality said the Municipality parking lots would be closed tomorrow, as all the employees will use alternative mass transport system to reach work.

"Top officials of municipality and participants will start from Qusais metro station at 7.30 am and reach Union metro station, wherein an environmental exhibition will be organized aimed at showcasing the benefits of such eco friendly initiatives. We expect this year to achieve more environmental benefits from the initiative due to the cooperation and added efforts of other government department," Lootah said.

He recalled that last year the initiative could save the environment from 4.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission, as more than 1,400 vehicles did not reach the Municipality , in addition to the vehicles of the DM customers and partners of the imitative.

"Tomorrow we expect more than 3,000 cars to be taken off the roads helping to save the environment from 10.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission. Our aim in future is to observe the Car Free Day with the participation of all government and private organisations," he said.

"Last year we received an email from Paris City Authority appreciating our Car Free Day and informing their intention to observe the same initiative in Paris," Lootah added.

Eng. Salem Bin Mesmar, Assistant Director General pointed out that the challenge of carbon dioxide emissions is huge, as more than one million vehicles are used in the emirate on daily basis (number of registered vehicles in June 2011 is 1,038,057. The quantity of emissions from transportation means reached to 62,295 tons in 2010, which represents 47% of the total air pollutants in the emirate.

Lord Castle, a European resident, commented that Lootah has embraced a philosophy that others should follow. I wish and pray that Europe follows this simple but brilliant foresight. If this could happen 3 to 6 times per year in all major cities of the world, the world will start to heal and we, I hope, would respect the damage we do and perhaps make changes in our lives to help our future generations.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.