19 July 2011
Roads & Transport Authority - Nashwan Atta'ee: The Organizing Committee of the Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport (DAST) at the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is to hold an extensive gathering about the 4th edition of DAST 2011to which it invited representatives of government & semi-government departments as well as private businesses spanning the whole UAE rather than Dubai Emirate only. The gathering will be attended by the Head of the Judges Committee Dr. Salem Al Shaafi'ee, Head of the Organizing Committee Dr. Khalid Mohammed Al Zahed, and members of both committees.

"The gathering, which will be held on 21 July 2011 at the auditorium of RTA's Headquarter, is expected to attract a considerable number of representatives & delegates of official & semi-official departments and private companies at the UAE level considering the successes made by the Award over the past three editions witnessing participation of several government & quasi-governmental departments in addition to private enterprises representing almost all economic, service tourist sectors among other vital sectors in Dubai Emirate," according to Dr. Khalid Al Zahed Head of the Award's Organizing Committee.

"During the prospective gathering, we will discuss a number of cases & issues of concern to the participants in the Award including the points of weakness & improvement potentials for non-winners in the previous rounds of the Award along with a review of the successful experiments of all winners of the Award categories with a view to benefiting from them. We will also exchange with the attendants opinions and views capable of improving the mechanism of the Award and broadening its future horizons, and discuss a wide number of topics including the refereeing process, procedures adopted in the assessment of participants, process of making submissions to the Award, sponsorship categories, and the standards of participation in the Award & its categories.

"The Judges Panel comprises government officials, specialists, academicians, and consultants who have long experience & high competency in all specialties of the Award. These members are highly impartial & objective in selecting the winners based on the best implementation of the standards set for the Award; which were developed following extensive studies and field surveys carried out by members of the Higher Organizing Committee of the Award.

"From the inaugural edition of the Award in 2008, we have been applying the principles & strategies of the Award such that the Award can bring about clear impacts on the environment as well as all segments of the community, trigger a radical change in the means of daily mobility of Dubai residents, induce the required improvements & developments in the patterns of mass transit means, and develop the ability to drive creativity & innovation," remarked the Head of the Award's Organizing Committee.

Al Zahed called on public & semi-public entities as well as private companies, regardless of their specialties & scope of business, to take part in the 4th edition of DAST through which 5 winners will be selected in each category. The winner will walk away with 150,000 dirham, and the runner-up will receive 85,000 dirham and the third finisher will get 60,000 dirham. The winners of the two Special Categories will get 50,000 dirham apiece.

The Head of DAST Organizing Committee expressed his confidence in the abilities of government, semi-government and private companies at various sectors in submitting suggestions, concepts and innovations capable of bring about a radical change in the profile of sustainable transport at the entire UAE level; which will undoubtedly boost the Vision, Mission and Objectives for which the RTA had been established in the first place.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2011