His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and Chairman of Dubai Municipality has praised the efforts of civic body in the way of sustainable development during his visit to the Municipality pavilion in the opening session of WETEX 2012.
His Highness was received by Eng. Hussein Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality and number senior officials from both Municipality and Environmental Center for Arab Towns.
The exhibition highlighted the latest projects that have been executed and technologies implemented by the civic body to save energy, water and environment, such as green buildings, creek cleaning, advanced irrigation, air quality monitoring system and other eco-friendly projects aimed at creating a sustainable environment.
Lootah said that the protection of environment from pollution and its dangers became the most important issues faced by the humankind due to its direct link and impact on our day-to-day life. Hence, the environment protection is a crucial common issue, which should not be left for the government or concerned people only. Each person in the society is responsible and should contribute as possible as they can to save our environment.
"We believe that the implementation of eco friendly projects and initiatives within a timeframe related to the urban and strategic development plans are the key to make green cities, he added.
Eng. Mohamed Nouri Director of ECAT said that the ECAT considers its participation in WETEX from last five last years as a unique opportunity to exhibit is services and the reason of its presence in UAE especially Dubai.
Dubai creek cleaning project to remove the polluted soil undertaken by the Environmental Emergency Office of Environment Department is the most important project aimed at removing organic wastes from the depth of creek and providing a clean water environment free from pollutants securing the biodiversity of the marine life.
The project to clean the entire creek has been implemented in different stages and expected to be completed by the end of 2012. Total 980 tons of contaminated soil and waste from the upper layer of creek bottom were taken out during the first and second stages of cleaning operations.
Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex comes second, an eco-friendly building, built by municipality with a number of modern facilities and technologies that unprecedentedly contributed in saving water, electricity and operation cost and protecting the environment from carbon dioxide emissions. This project can save 68% of energy and 377.4 m2 water in its daily operations.
The models of green buildings and using solar energy to irrigate its roofs got great attention by the visitors. Eight stations operated by solar panels in Dubai were displayed along with the pictures of solar energy stations in addition to the Green Building Practice Guide and a number of brochures, booklets and publications.
The people who are highly concerned about the air quality of their city were delighted to see the air quality monitoring system of Dubai city displayed by the environmental studies and planning section, which showed the method of air quality monitoring in addition to the pictures of monitoring stations in different parts of Dubai and a mobile station.
Other significant projects in the area of overall sustainable development of the city includes solar water heater project, costal safety monitoring system and a number of community awareness activities and campaigns frequently organized by the civic body.
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© Press Release 2012
