By 2014, animals that have been living in the crammed enclosures in the Dubai Zoo will be able to roam freely in habitats similar to their natural ones with the government approving a safari park project to relocate the 45-year-old current facility.

Director-General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah on Sunday announced that the Dh150-million project will be named “Dubai Safari” and will house many more animals from different parts of the world. The park will be built in Al Warqa5 on Aweer Road in an area of 400 hectares.

It will include a butterfly park, golf courses and entertainment and recreational areas.

Hundreds of animals, birds and other creatures at the Dubai Zoo in Jumeirah will be relocated to 60 hectares of the total area which is aimed at establishing the best centre for wildlife in the world.

“We will have animal exchange programmes with some international zoos and we will choose animals that are suitable to live in our weather conditions,” said Lootah.

“It’s a safari concept with a different flavour. Visitors will have to use the zoo’s vehicles to go around and watch the animals,” he said.

Dawood Al Hajri, Director of Planning Department at the municipality, said specially designed and solar-powered vehicles will be used in Dubai Safari.
Deira Corniche Dhow Wharfage

Dubai Creek will get a new wharfage area in between Deira Corniche and Palm Deira in front of Hyatt Regency, Lootah said.

The Dh200-million project consists of the construction of a 3km-long comprehensive wharfage, which will be divided into 30 loading/unloading areas. Mohammed Noor Mashroom, Director of General Projects Department, said the project is aimed at constructing an additional integrated infrastructure to facilitate an increase in dhow trade through Dubai, which will make Dubai the economical centre of import and export activities in the region.

On completion, it will allow around 400 dhows of different sizes to berth at a time with a capacity to handle 1.7 million tonnes of cargo per year, said Ibrahim Mohammed Juma, the head of Coastal Engineering Unit at the Coastal Zone and Waterways Management Section of the municipality’s Environment Department.

This will allow Dubai Creek to receive and anchor bigger dhows, some as big as 80-metre long, which previously couldn’t enter there,” said Juma.

Construction of the project will require the excavation and dredging of 390,000 cubic metre of sand from the seabed adjacent to the wharf site, and this amount will be re-used for the reclamation works of the wharfage.
Business Bay Canal

Initially started by Dubai Properties Group Dubai Holdings, the work on the Business Bay Canal project was halted later. Lootah said it will now be revived by the Dubai Municipality.

The Dh200-million project involves the connection of the side of the Business Bay Canal adjacent to the Shaikh Zayed Road with sea, through a pipeline system. The canal waterway will be completed by connecting the existing manmade lagoons. “We will take the water from the sea, pump it through the lagoons and flush it into the creek,” said Lootah.

Juma noted that the project will improve the water quality in the lagoons leading to the enhancement of waterfront developments and promenades around the lagoons.

“Currently there are four lagoons and the quality of the stagnated ground water over there has deteriorated over the years after the project was halted... The project will also help change the quality of creek water lying stagnant from Garhoud side,” he said. The project is expected to enhance the economical state of the area adjacent to the canal and provide a unique water body suitable for leisure navigation.

Juma said the municipality is adopting “micro-tunneling technique” for the pipeline system of an overall length of 3km so that the pumping process will not impact any existing utilities or services.

“No road diversions will be required,” he said. Also, the water intake will be done using the “pipeline intake” technique, which does not require the construction of any breakwaters, thus preventing any harm to the coastal and marine environment.