Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, has approved an AED35 million ($9.5 million) project for periodical maintenance of Dubai marine facilities and coastal protection for the next two years, Emirates News Agency informs.
Hussein Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said that the approval comes as part of the special attention given by the municipality to marine facilities and beaches due to its tourism and commercial importance.
Alya Al Harmoudi, Director of Environment Department at Dubai Municipality , said that the dynamic characteristics of the coast of the emirate, in addition to its exposure to the seasonal northerly storms that lead to erosion of large amount of sand, estimated to be 30,000 cubic meters per year, causing erosion of beaches, which in a way poses a threat to the residential, service and tourist infrastructures at the beach.
“Understanding this risk, the municipality has pushed itself in the past to formulate plans for coastal protection and maintenance, which is still going on,” said Al Harmoudi, quoting several examples that included restoration and development of Umm Suqeim beach, which was enriched with nearly 500,000 cubic meters of high-quality beach sand and protected with a number of coastal barriers.
Al Harmoudi added that this project will straight away start inspecting the state of the facilities at the sea and coastal areas such as wave barriers, sea buoys, etc.