Planners draw new blueprint for Al Ain

AL AIN // The city planners behind Abu Dhabi's reinvention are drawing up an ambitious new blueprint for developing Al Ain and the Al Gharbia region. The plans will reflect the rapid rate of expansion in the rest of the country, and will guide construction and policy in the areas formerly known as the Western Region for years to come.

The Urban Planning Council (UPC) said the plans should be published by the end of the year, with the Al Ain draft due in September or October. The prospect of large-scale development in Al Ain coincides with the city's bid to be named a World Heritage Site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Officials at the UPC declined to reveal details of the plans before publication.

Some of the consultants working to shape Al Ain and Al Gharbia also helped to draw up the Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 after a series of workshops in the capital in 2006. The planners held an initial workshop on Al Ain's future last November, followed by a more detailed session on how to develop the city in March. The workshops were led by Larry Beasley, a well-respected urban planner from Vancouver, who was hired by the Abu Dhabi Government in 2006 to help draw up a detailed vision for the future of the emirate. Mr Beasley said the Al Ain plan would likely act as a comprehensive guide to developing a thriving desert city that would serve as an alternative to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Both plans are expected to concentrate on how infrastructure should be improved to cope with anticipated population growth while preserving the character of the region. Once ready, the plans will be implemented by the UPC, which was set up by governmental decree last September. Developers and municipality officials must then abide by the vision outlined in the plan. Nathan Alexander, a director for UPC from Australia, recently wrote about the Al Ain vision for an online Australian planning magazine.

He described the challenge of redeveloping a city of 300,000 residents with a density as low as one household per hectare and said it would be about "avoiding more sprawl and instead creating greater density in the existing city area". Planners will also seek to protect the traditional image of Al Ain as a green haven for the rest of the emirate. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, issued a decree in 2005 ordering all the city's oases be preserved and protected, especially from the threat of overdevelopment. When Al Ain Municipality launched a four-year development plan in May its general manager, Awad al Darmaki, emphasised that the city's character should be preserved. "When people come to Al Ain, we know they want to see the real authentic Arabic city that has its own flavour, its own aroma," he said.

Al Gharbia region is also undergoing a transformation and the Western Region Development Council has outlined its aim of bringing in jobs and tourism. Hamood al Mansoori, the general manager of the Western Region Municipality, said in May it was vital to "upgrade the lives of the people of the Western Region to the same level as others across the UAE". The region includes 83 per cent of the emirate's territory but only eight per cent of the population. It is expected to undergo radical changes in the next five years as ambitious plans for creating tourist destinations take shape.

@Email:rhughes@thenational.ae