Dubai is to build a flower-shaped eco-city in the desert in the emirate, authorities have announced.
Dubai Municipality said it had approved plans for Desert Rose City, which was first announced in 2014 and comprises schools, shopping malls, hospitals, villas and other housing – all powered by renewable energy, it said.
The municipality posted pictures of the eco-city plans on its Instagram and Twitter accounts on Tuesday.
Hussein Nasser Lootah, director-general of Dubai Municipality, said that the scheme was in line with the vision of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, “to implement an integrated environment-friendly city in Dubai”.
It added: “The go-ahead has been given to start the [scheme’s] implementation, in which the city will be in the shape of a flower in the desert.”
Dawood Al Hajiri, executive director of Dubai Municipality’s planning department, was quoted in local media as saying that 75 percent of the eco-city would be dedicated to housing, and the first phase would accommodate around 160,000 inhabitants across an area of 14,000 hectares.
The city will generate around 200 megawatts of electricity using solar panels on the roofs of homes and other buildings.
The city will also seek to re-use energy and recycle waste water to provide more than 40,000 cubic metres of fresh water, Al Hajiri said.
Details on cost, location and development timeframe for Desert Rose City were not disclosed.
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