Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council invites communities to attend public consultation sessions for Al Gharbia

Following its highly productive community outreach initiative launched last week in the four parts of the Eastern Region that saw very encouraging public interaction, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) is commencing public consultation sessions for Al Gharbia on 12-14 February.

Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region, and in close collaboration with the Western Region Development Council (WRDC) and Western Region Municipality (WRM), the sessions will be organised for the individual settlements of Sil’a, Delma and Gayathi in the Western Region with local Government authorities along with residents.  The sessions are the next step towards formulating the urban materplans for the settlements under the ambit of Plan Al Gharbia 2030, the urban structure framework plan for the Western Region of Abu Dhabi Emirate.

The community sessions will provide UPC planners with the platform to interact with local community members to ensure their sustained involvement in the entire planning process for each settlement with an aim to attain self-efficiency through a balance of high quality community facilities.

“Plan Al Gharbia 2030 is aligned with the broader strategic objectives of Abu Dhabi Urban Vision 2030 and is aimed at developing an overall regional vision for Al Gharbia and its settlements” said H.E. Falah Mohammad Al Ahbabi, General Manager, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. He further added “Plan Al Gharbia 2030 will eventually not only be a model sustainable development which accommodates appropriate growth and offers a high quality of life, but will also preserve its traditional Arabic, Bedouin and Islamic rural culture, character, lifestyle and heritage.”

“Collaboration with the citizens of the region for the comprehensive formulation of the urban masterplans is one of the key fundamental planning principles practiced by the UPC. The planning process that subsequently ensures aims at incorporating most of the views and feedbacks voiced by the residents during the initial sessions. The public consultation sessions will begin this afternoon and are primarily meant for the residents of all the settlements in the Western Region and we encourage them to actively participate in this important planning process” added Al Ahbabi.

 As a next step, following direction from the outcomes of each workshop, conceptual plans for the region and each settlement will be drafted and reviewed by stakeholders before the final plan is formulated. 

"We are designing communities that reflect the creative contribution of our people by managing and meeting their immediate needs without compromising the assets and potential of the Emirati's future generation. Determining regional and settlement level land use and recommending patterns of transportation, infrastructure, government services, health care and ecological protection will be an integral aspect of Plan Al Gharbia 2030,” concluded Al Ahbabi.

In line with Estidama, which means ‘sustainability’ in Arabic and is Abu Dhabi’s contribution to the global discussion on how to create more sustainable communities, cities and global enterprises, the settlement plans in Al Gharbia will be founded on key environmental, cultural, social and economic sustainability principles. 

The community involvement exercise implemented by UPC for the formulation of masterplans is in tune with Abu Dhabi Urban Vision 2030 which aims to inspire and increase citizen’s involvement by identifying the key motivations driving people to interact with Abu Dhabi’s sustainable vision to improve community, environmental, social, economic and cultural responsibility.

The Western Region spans over a 60,000 square kilometer area and accounts for 83% of Abu Dhabi Emirate’s landmass. In November last year, HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the western Region, was presented with the urban plans and work progress for Madinat Zayed, Sila’a, Ghayathi and Delma in the Western Region. They highlighted general plan of developments for each settlement, detailed studied conducted, implementation phases, as well as design regulations and development requirements. Those plans stress the need to preserve the cultural and environmental assets of the Western Region whilst highlighting its role as the nexus of traditional and modern Emirati society and also the nerve of Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry.

The public consultation sessions in the Western Region will begin from February 12, 2012 and the following is a detailed schedule of the community session for the Al Gharbia region.