NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
 

ABU DHABI - APR 20: Help is on the way for pedestrians who take their life in their hands as they cross roads.

Planners yesterday revealed the locations for 26 footbridges with lifts and air conditioning. The first 14 should be available by summer next year.

Pedestrians also got a warning: It’s going to be harder to ignore the bridges because barriers are going to be higher. And the municipality will work to fix breaks in fences near where there are underpasses.

Abdulla al Shamsi, director of roads and infrastructure for the municipality, said at the Cityscape exhibition that the first 14 bridges could be built by June 2010.

Three bridges will be on Abu Dhabi Island with the remainder crossing roads near suburban areas.

The locations have been chosen for areas where pedestrians are known to cross the road or where pedestrian-related collisions are frequent, Mr al Shamsi said.

Twenty-six people died crossing roads in Abu Dhabi in the first 71 days of this year and 117 were injured.

All of the bridges would have lifts and most would be air-conditioned, Mr al Shamsi said.

He said the cool temperature and ease of access would encourage pedestrians to use the bridges, rather than run between breaks in traffic at street level, as some pedestrians continue to do near three bridges in the Tourist Club Area, as part of the municipality’s Salam Street expansion project.

The lifts would make the bridges accessible to the disabled. The municipality would also build high fences where bridges will be.

“With the elevator, they will use it,” Mr al Shamsi said.

He had revealed plans to build 32 pedestrian bridges more than a year ago. He said difficulties in finding a contractor had caused a delay.

“Because the contractor finds the scale of the project is too big, we divided it into two phases,” he said.

Twenty-six locations have been settled on, with 14 bridges to be built in the first phase. Mr al Shamsi said there was no time set for the start of the second phase.

Footbridges being built in the first phase include two along the Corniche near the public beach and one linking the bus station on Fourth Street with the other side of the street.

Two would be built in the Musaffah area and three along the Abu Dhabi-Dubai road.

The bridges are in addition to 30 pedestrian subways in the emirate, which planners complain have been under-used.

The announcement comes in the wake of comments from the UAE’s director of traffic, Col Gaith al Zaabi, who said urban planners had to become proactive at protecting pedestrians.

Col al Zaabi said control systems should be installed for pedestrians in front of crossings with traffic lights, and broken barriers fixed promptly so pedestrians cannot cross them.

He said lifts should be added to bridges and closed-circuit cameras installed in subways so people would feel more comfortable using them.

The Urban Planning Council is also unveiling at Cityscape an urban street design and mobility standards manual that is intended to create safer, more comfortable and more aesthetic streets.

The manual is to be completed by this autumn and an actual “demonstration street”, redesigned and reconstructed based on the manual, will be completed next year.

The municipality had its footbridge plan on display yesterday at Cityscape, along with a simulation of its Dh5 billion Salam Street expansion project, to be completed by October 2010, and its Dh745 million Mafraq interchange project, to be completed by May 2010.

The Mafraq project will include replacing the existing bridge and the construction of two flyovers at the interchange connecting Al Gharbia to Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the northern Emirates.

Bill Gates to co-fund aid with Dubai Cares

NEW YORK - APR 20: Bill Gates has struck a deal with the charity organisation Dubai Cares to co-fund projects intended improve the health and education of children in the developing world.

As co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he signed a co-operation pact yesterday with Reem al Hashimy, chairwoman of Dubai Cares.

“The challenges facing developing countries are far greater than any single government or foundation can overcome alone – collaboration is critical to success,” Mr Gates said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with Dubai Cares, and we hope that their dedication and generosity will inspire others around the world to support efforts to improve the lives of people in developing countries.”

This long-term partnership aims to improve primary schools and the health of children who attend them in poor parts of Africa and Asia. Both charities have also pledged their commitment to projects that improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

The joining of forces between the two donors is expected to see the Gates Foundation, the world’s largest transparently operated foundation, share its expertise to help Dubai Cares strengthen its impact on the ground.

The foundation is keen to learn about Dubai Cares projects in the Middle East. A team from the UAE charity is expected to travel soon to the foundation’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington, to set the collaboration in motion.

“This alliance stems from a shared commitment to help underprivileged children break free from the cycle of poverty – a challenge, we feel, is best addressed by providing access to primary education,” Ms al Hashimy said.

“Dubai Cares looks forward to collectively implementing innovative solutions founded on the full value chain of education, a value chain in which the Gates Foundation’s health and development experience and expertise will contribute to making a lasting impact on the ground,” she said.

In January 2008, Mr Gates came to the UAE and met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

During his trip, he struck separate deals between his software firm, Microsoft, and both Dubai Cares and the Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation, to offer Arab students free computing services.

The Gates Foundation, which has given more than US$28 billion (Dh103bn) to alleviate poverty since its inception in 2000, donates about $800m a year to global health programmes.

It provides 17 per cent of the world budget for the effort to eradicate polio. Mr Gates has been named by Forbes magazine as the world’s richest man, with assets of about US$40bn.

Dubai Cares was launched by Sheikh Mohammed during Ramadan in 2007 to help the UN reach a target of providing primary schooling to every child by 2015.

So far it has raised more than $1bn toward that goal, having partnered with several high-profile international organisations, including Save the Children and Unicef.

More than four million children in 20 developing countries, including Yemen and Sudan, have benefited from money given by donors in Dubai.

Dubai Cares is supporting the building and renovation of 2,072 schools, training 22,370 teachers, helping 3,157 parent-teacher associations, creating 489 libraries and distributing 1.3 million books in local languages.

Speaking at the close of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development 2009 conference, Ms al Hashimy noted that the UAE had a long history of philanthropy and generosity.

The leadership believes in the importance and necessity of giving back to those less fortunate,” she said, adding: “I hope that by working together we may uncover new ways of co-operation.”

Capital district plan celebrates identity

ABU DHABI - APR 20: Unveiling details of Abu Dhabi’s new capital district yesterday, the project’s chief planner said the ambitious development will help the nation define itself.

“This is the single most important project in the whole UAE,” Falah al Ahbabi, the general manager of the Urban Planning Council said.

“We felt that we needed to relate people to their federal identity. We wanted to gather all the federal governmental offices in one area to achieve that target.”

The full plan was revealed at the opening of the Cityscape Abu Dhabi exhibition, which in the wake of the global economic downturn, saw some developers indicate a change in focus from grandiose projects revealed at the exhibition in previous years.

Many developers indicated they were altering their projects and cutting prices to ensure developments remained viable.

The exhibition was officially opened by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who said that the UAE economy still enjoyed stability and resilience, despite the downturn.

Sheikh Mohammed said the Government was keen to provide support to the property sector, which is considered a key driver for economy, the state news agency, WAM, reported. “The ongoing interest that exists for real estate in Abu Dhabi represents a powerful endorsement of the Government’s long-term vision for the sustainable growth and development of the emirate.”

The 2030 plans for Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, which govern all developments in those two cities, would ensure development in the emirate was sustainable, he said.

The most significant of those developments is the Capital District, which will be built seven kilometres inland south of Abu Dhabi island, between Mohammed bin Zayed City and Abu Dhabi International Airport. It stretches over a triangular area of 45 square kilometres of land formerly identified as Khalifa City C, and will eventually house about 370,000 people.

At the heart of the area will be the Federal Precinct that will serve as the national seat of government for the UAE. A series of seven grand boulevards “representing the seven emirates” will connect the centre with surrounding districts.

“It will celebrate the federal identity of the whole UAE. That will differentiate it from other parts of the country,” Mr al Ahbabi said.

“In other parts of the world they have done it because it adds value to the nation and to the people.

The total development comprises six major precincts, including the Federal Precinct, City Centre Precinct – divided into four areas – Emirati neighbourhood, Sports Hub Precinct, South Spine Precinct and Palace Precinct.

The district will also serve as the second business district of the town with about 2.8 million square metres of office space. The existing Central business district in Abu Dhabi island, runs across from the Tourist Club area down the Corniche including Al Sowwah development.

“Their positioning is that of a financial district. The second central business district will have high-class offices and concentrate economic growth on the mainland,” Joanne Proft, the project manager for Capital District, said.

Three universities will relocate in the district: Zayed University, Khalifa Universities, and the Abu Dhabi University, and it will be the site of the 65,000-seat National Stadium as well as various sport venues.

“It is one of the most well connected sites,” Ms Proft said. “On the north is E20 on the West E22. The project will have a fully integrated transport system that ties it to the rest of the regional transport. There is a fast rail that runs through the city along the north line up to Abu Dhabi.”

It will include a high speed rail service, 131km of metro railway, regional rail connections and is close the capital’s airport.

Each residential neighbourhood will be served by community services including cultural centres and the majority of parking will be underground. There will also be two hospitals.

The developers hope to orientate the district’s buildings to ensure the maximum possible shade, ventilation and exposure to prevailing winds. There will be dedicated bike lanes and footpaths.

Falah al Ahbabi said in a previous interview that work on the district would start “aggressively” in the first or second quarter of 2010.

The first buildings to be constructed will be the government offices followed by Emirati housing and sports facilities.

The tender to choose the project manager in charge of the project will be launched next month.

Ms Proft said some work was already under way.

“One is the stadium, they started piling,” she said. “And the Zayed University started their site preparation, too. We are working with them to make sure they have infrastructure in place, utilities, power.”

The cost of the project has not been revealed.

Speeding linked to 80% of accidents

DUBAI - APR 20: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), which released the figure, said it planned to continue a driver safety campaign while improving road safety measures at the same time.

The RTA is midway through the second phase of the Haseb safety campaign, which aims to cut road deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent by 2015 through a combination of television, radio and newspaper campaigns and police enforcement.

Hussain al Banna, director of traffic at the RTA’s traffic and roads agency, said speeding jeopardised the lives of all other road users.

Speeding “claims hundreds of lives every year. Statistics reveal that the number of casualties is continuously on the rise”, he said. The number of people killed or injured last year in Dubai by speeding motorists was 375, while in Abu Dhabi, more than half the traffic violations recorded so far this year have been for speeding.

A total of 138,919 motorists in Abu Dhabi were caught breaking the speed limit between January 1 and April 5, representing 56 per cent of traffic cases.

At the end of October last year, Dubai Police targeted aggressive drivers who speeded, tailgated and bullied other drivers, and fined them on the spot.

Its campaign had involved deploying both uniformed and undercover police on the roads. Together, they issued more than 600 fines for motoring offences within one week.

  
Move to ease fears on medical waste

SHARJAH - APR 20: A private company is to take charge of the collection and disposal of medical waste in Sharjah after reports that hospitals and private clinics are dumping needles and bloodstained dressings in public bins.

Abdul Aziz al Midfa, the director of the environment and protected areas authority, said the company would step in by the summer to deal with the problem, which arose because the city’s incinerator has been out of action since last November.

He told a session of the Sharjah Consultative Council on Thursday: “We acknowledge there is a problem, especially in the private medical sector, regarding the disposal of medical waste.

“We have been working on a solution, and have come up with a decision to hire a private company to establish a green plant that would recycle all medical waste.”

He said the company would take over the contract work by the middle of this year, but declined to reveal its name or the value of the contract.

Responding to council members’ comments on the illegal dumping of waste from construction sites in the Sajja area, Mr al Midfa said a waste recycling plant was due to be completed by July.

In the meantime, stricter enforcement was needed and the maximum fine for violations – Dh100,000 (US$27,000) – was more likely to be imposed.

On the question of the spread of red tide, Obaid Mohammed Juma al Matroushi, the assistant deputy director of fisheries at the Ministry of Environment and Water, said the federal Government had formed a special committee to tackle the problem.

To prevent sea pollution caused by the illegal dumping of oil waste, he said the Government was using satellite imaging to increase surveillance of Gulf shipping.

Pets face ban from public places

ABU DHABI - APR 20: The capital’s public parks and beaches may soon be off limits to pets, and owners will be told to keep them on a leash when they are out of doors.

The new restrictions are contained in a draft by-law that has been submitted by the municipality that officials say could be approved within the next two months.

And while disgruntled pet owners are already crying foul, Abu Dhabi’s technical adviser for municipal services, Amin Youssef, is adamant that the restrictions are in the public interest and said people who ignored them could expect to face fines.

“There was no regulation for this before, but now there is a lot of complaints in the parks,” said Mr Youssef. “People said there is a lot of mess there, so we are trying to regulate pets now and make a new code of practice for keeping them.”

Some individual parks and buildings already have their own restrictions on animals, but there are currently no wide-ranging regulations enforced by the municipality.

“Some people take their dogs to the shopping centres and this can be scary for some children. Some people are even bringing monkeys outside,” Mr Youssef said.

Mr Youssef did not go into details about possible punishments for pet owners who violated the proposed regulations, but said breaking the rules would almost certainly be expensive.

“I think for sure if you have to make some regulations, you have to make some fines for that.”

In cases where animals are disturbing neighbours with noise or if they pose a public health risk, complaints to the municipality could result in a warning for the pet owner or the animal could be seized.

“There was one night when I saw two ladies shouting because there was a dog barking and chasing them at the Corniche,” said Mr Youssef. “This is why we want these regulations.”

Pet owners and at least one local veterinarian are unhappy with the imminent restrictions.

“I think that 99.9 per cent of the fears about irresponsible pet owners are unfounded,” said Dr Jonathan Hale, the head vet at the British Veterinarian Centre. “There’s only that 0.1 per cent giving them all a bad name and keeping a dog off the leash.”

Neil Richards, from the US, likes to walk his Labrador along the Corniche and is worried he may no longer be able to.

“Dogs need exercise; it’s not enough to just walk them around your neighbourhood where you have to stop every few paces because of a passing car,” he said.

“Public spaces like parks and beaches should have multi uses, one of which should be using them as a safe, fun area to take pets.

“Locals who own dogs have more space and big gardens where they can let their dogs roam free. What about people who live in small apartments in a villa, like me?”

Anna Mitchell, from Canada, is an animal lover who volunteers part-time at Strays Abu Dhabi and sometimes takes the charity’s dogs for walks.

“I live on the Corniche and when I have dogs to care for I walk them in the park areas along the Corniche, which are public areas and suitable for the dogs,” said Ms Mitchell, who moved to Abu Dhabi two years ago.

“It would be horrible if I couldn’t access those parks with the dogs anymore because there aren’t any other places to go. We’re already very limited on where we can walk dogs here, and unless they designate walking spots where we can take pets we won’t have a lot of options.”

Sue Stewart, from the UK, lives in Mangrove Village on the outskirts of the capital and said residents there already were not allowed to walk dogs inside the compound.

“We have a beach park that is within the compound and a grassy bit as well and we can’t take our dogs there,” said Ms Stewart. “I drive half an hour into the desert to walk my dogs.”

As the owner of two dogs – a West Highland terrier and a part-saluki – Ms Stewart agreed the municipality needed to make people clean up after their pets.

“I am a responsible dog owner and I always take bags with me to clean up after my dogs when I walk them,” she said.

“But the problem is that unfortunately people are not doing that. I’ve seen it happening, and a small minority of people are ruining it for the rest of us.

“It’s too extreme to just ban dogs from public places; why not fine offenders and employ security for that instead? Educate people to solve this problem. These restrictions are, at the end of the day, very very unfair.”

UAE promises transparency in human trafficking

ABU DHABI - APR 20: Human trafficking is not a huge problem in the UAE but the country’s new Human Rights Department has pledged to be open about the issue.

Col Ahmad al Muharami, manager of a general directorate of the interior ministry, said some countries would not publicly discuss how they fought human trafficking. “But the UAE will deal with the issue with absolute transparency,” he said.

Col al Muharami said the ministry would keep the public fully informed about developments related to human trafficking.

That openness, he said, would help eradicate the problem.

“It should be stressed that human trafficking in the UAE is limited and cannot be described as a phenomenon,” he said.

Col al Muharami, who spoke at a press conference ahead of a two-day symposium on protection of human trafficking victims starting tomorrow, is also head of the human rights department at the ministry.

He said many people confused human trafficking with prostitution and other forms of human exploitation.

The “fine line” between human trafficking – such as selling human organs without the knowledge of the victim, during a hospital operations for example – and other forms of organised crime made it difficult to give precise numbers of victims in the country.

Illegal workers were another example of the problem of human trafficking.

If found guilty of human trafficking, offenders face jail terms of between five and 25 years.

The first day of the symposium will include presentation of a paper from the United Nations Development Programme on international treaties relating to human trafficking.

Other papers will discuss UAE law, legislative measures to protect victims, housing centres for women and children and the role of national organisations in fighting the problem.

On the second day, Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for FNC Affairs, will talk about the strategy of the national committee for fighting human trafficking.

Last month, Dr Gargash, who is also chairman of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, said the country was at the forefront of regional measures to tackle the issue. He said a unified effort was “essential to combating this crime”.

Eight papers will discuss the police procedures to investigate human trafficking, including a paper that will discuss the psychological effects of human trafficking.

The role of the Ministry of Labour will be discussed on the second day.

Last month, Obeid Salem al Zaabi, the country’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told a session of the world body’s human rights council that the UAE fully understood the seriousness of the crime of human trafficking.