Capital recognised for its green spaces

ABU DHABI // The capital has been recognised for its greenery, winning the landscaping and environmental awareness categories at a regional urban planning organisation's awards ceremony in Doha. It took the 2010 Greenery Prize at the Arab Towns Organisation Awards, Abu Dhabi Municipality announced yesterday. The capital also won the Environmental Awareness category, followed by Dammam, in Saudi Arabia, at Thursday's ceremony.

Khalifa al Mazrouei, the municipality's general manager, described the landscaping award as a "landmark achievement". Aswan in Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan were second and third, respectively in the category, which awards cities that have demonstrated a commitment to developing green areas in an urban environment. This year, 13 cities were nominated for the prize. Dubai's National Falconry Centre was second in the Architectural Projects category, behind Doha's Museum of Islamic Art.

Rashad Bukhash, the Emirati architect and chairman of the Architectural Heritage Department, was second in the Architecture Engineer category. The municipality is responsible for the maintenance and development of green areas in the city, which, in recent years, has seen the creation of more parks and gardens. According to the municipality, Abu Dhabi Island has 1,250 hectares of green areas. zconstantine@thenational.ae