Dubai officials confirm green spaces plan

Dubai Municipality has confirmed plans to increase the emirate’s green areas by 4 percent this year and next year by opening more public parks and increasing landscaping.

Officials aim to provide every person living in Dubai the equivalent of 25 sq m each by 2020. Currently the municipality estimates this figure to be 13.18 sq m.

As part of the move to make Dubai greener some 27 million flowering plants were planted throughout the emirate last year, officials said.

“Our surroundings are highly important for all of us and make Dubai an attractive and pleasant City in which to live - for this reason we are pushing ahead with our extensive plans,” Mohammed Hassan Al Fardan, head of the Promotion and Recreation Office Public Parks and Horticulture Department, Dubai Municipality.

“Until now we have only used locally produced plants and flowers, cultivated in our own greenhouses, to develop Dubai’s green spaces. However, we have very ambitious ideas and there is now a need for a greater variety of plant and flower species,” he said.

The news comes ahead of the fifth annual horticultural show, IPM Dubai, from March 8-10, at Airport Expo Dubai.

Organisers said they anticipate to see visitor footfall exceed 3,000 people over the three days.