Why are marine and coastal
developments in the Middle East increasingly
attracting global attention? Industry leaders Dr. Benno Boer Ecological
Sciences Advisor Arab Region at UNESCO, Craig Thackray Head of Marine at
Scott Wilson and Magdy Youssef Director of the Lusail Complex at Qatari Diar
were approached to provide input from the NGO, consultant and developer
perspective. Dr. Benno Boer UNESCO commented on why regional projects are attracting
such interest:
"The Arab States in the Gulf have established themselves as important
oil
and gas producers and exporters. This caused a lot of social and economic
transformation. Very important international airports and airlines have been
established, and destinations such as Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and others are
now very well known in the world. The leaders and the people have wisely
developed their countries as peaceful locations that are highly attractive
for business. Massive coastal and marine development projects have been
developed more recently, and this has generated even more visibility."
Magdy Youssef, Director- Lusail Administration Complex, Qatari Diar
agreed adding "Elsewhere global markets are not keeping pace with expected
growth in the Middle East so there is an interest in the global community to
take a hard look at coastal development opportunities within the region.
Coastal developments are relatively new to the region and interest is
expanding into integrating the use of land and sea."
Commenting on the changes achieved in the last ten years Dr. Benno Boer
said that "In the past, large-scale coastal construction was mainly based on
gas and oil facilities, harbors, and desalination plants, but now it
includes
massive man-made islands for human living, as well as airports, hotels, etc.
In addition much of the coastline has been used to establish week-end
recreational housing. There is a huge change that took place in the last
fifteen years. When I first came to the Gulf in the late 1980s, there were
plenty of beautiful remote beaches, and undisturbed coastal habitats. A lot
of this has now been converted into man-made structures."
Thackray said there has been significant change in the Kingdom of
Bahrain
in the last 10 years. "The Kingdom has seen a transformation of the original
coastline with the provision of reclaimed land for future housing,
industrial
and infrastructural development."
The international construction community are looking to draw on the
experiences from the Middle East mega construction projects, Magdy
commented.
His perspective of the essential elements to marine project success are: "A
clearly defined master plan is the key element that controls the types and
sizes of building to ensure maximum exposure to the sea. The transition
areas
between land use and sea use must be clearly integrated into the master
plan,
such as roads, parking, public facilities, safety, and security and most
importantly the water front land use to create appropriate activities along
the waterfront."
Thackray added that an integrated project team approach under a standard
form of contract with good client coordination to enable professional
delivery is also key. Dr. Benno gave a perspective of project success
focused
around water security and environment,
"We have to be aware that desalination plants are absolutely essential
for human living in the Gulf, and not only in coastal communities. Therefore
marine pollution, especially oil pollution, has to be kept at an absolute
minimum. We see the danger of oil pollution these days on TV, discussing the
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. We should at the same time not forget the
massive oil spill of the 1991 Gulf War, which caused over a million tonnes
of
oil to be released in the shallow waters of the Gulf.
In addition, we need to understand that the Gulf is a highly productive
ecosystem, unlike the terrestrial deserts. The Gulf has a diversity of sea
grass beds, macro-algal reefs, coral reefs, mangroves and salt marshes, all
of which are primary producers in the food-chain. Coastal and marine
construction should always involve a dialogue between decision makers,
engineers and environmental professionals, such as ecologists and
biologists.
This is very important in order to avoid or minimize damage to important
ecosystems. Good environmental technology should be applied, and there is an
increasing will and economic reality to do so. Some of the Governments
around
the Gulf are highly supportive of this development."
When asked to select examples of best practice in marine and coastal
projects Diyar Al Muharraq was mentioned due to an excellent design that
considers all critical aspects such as durability, flushing, impacts on
surroundings, constructability and value engineering and the Pearl Qatar as
a
good example of what a water front development can offer to residents and
visitors.
Dr. Benno would like to wait for the impact of developments to be
assessed for environmental impact before passing judgment. He commented that
"Until now, regretfully, I have seen quite a lot coastal projects with a
lack
of environmental consideration, even though, many of them claim they have
excellent designs. However, the good news is environmental awareness in the
Gulf exists at a good level - it now depends on the good performance of all
sectors of society to make the best out of the knowledge that we have.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves can most certainly play a leading role, as
long
as they receive good support by the concerned authorities. The public and
private sector show very good support, and I laud them for that, and I call
on others to join this important process. Some of the environment agencies
in
the Gulf are already performing very well, whereas others could show a lot
more interest, and they could do a lot more and much faster. UNESCO is ready
to assist."
Dr. Benno Boer, Craig Thackray and Magdy Youssef will all be speaking at
IQPC's Marine & Coastal Engineering Middle East taking place at the
Millennium Hotel Doha, Qatar on 21-22 June 2010. This industry leading
conference will provide the opportunity to gain insight into regional marine
and coastal project case studies.
