ABU DHABI // Two major development projects will bring thousands of homes and jobs to an underdeveloped area on the outskirts of the capital.
The Dh4 billion Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City is 90 per cent complete and will open soon, while construction is under way on a Dh2.5bn Emirati housing neighbourhood near Abu Dhabi International Airport. The first of the homes will be ready by 2019.
The 732-bed hospital in Al Mafraq area is billed as one of the most important healthcare developments in the region, with four towers and an array of buildings stretching across 300,000 square metres.
Developer Musanada said the hospital has 36 VIP units, 424 beds for post-surgery inpatients, 120 beds for mother and childcare, a 32-bed intensive care unit, a 30-bed ICU for cardiology and a 20-bed burns unit, among others.
The hospital, on which work began in 2011, means patients and emergency services will not have to travel into the city centre.
During the media tour yesterday, Ali Al Haj Al Mehairbi, Musanada’s executive director of building management, said “the pioneering project reflects the Abu Dhabi government’s concern with people’s health”.
Along with the advanced burns treatment centre, there will be special units to treat tumours, kidney problems, urology, chest, rheumatism, bone, blood, cardiovascular and endocrine diseases.
Students from UAE University’s engineering department toured the new district yesterday.
Rashid Al Kaabi, 21, a student of mechanical engineering, said the hospital would ensure easier access to health care.
“People won’t have to rush to the city all the time for specialised treatment,” he said.
Hussain Al Hosani, 21, said the developers had shown what could be done with advanced technology.
“The work at the hospital is excellent, it spurs you on to learn more and work hard,” he said.
Work on the housing district, which is being built by the same developer, is under way and will eventually provide homes for 22,000 Emiratis.
The neighbourhood will provide sustainable infrastructure and the “best international standards of community living”.
Suwaidan Al Dhaheri, acting chief executive of Musanada, said there were 2,790 residential plots, 36 mosques, 43 parks and 15 schools.
Mr Al Dhaheri said the project’s preliminary works consisted of land treatment, main roads, a drinking water system, rainwater drainage network, irrigation, firefighting, power cables and LPG networks to homes.
“The project was designed in view of future population growth in Madinat Zayed, on the outskirts of the city,” he said.
A tram facility to connect residents is a future goal, to be completed by about 2030.
anwar@thenational.ae
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