Dubai vision: Nearly 1m new jobs by 2020
Dubai is introducing a master plan for urban development that is expected to open up about 950,000 jobs by 2020, Khaleej Times has learnt.
The Dubai Executive Council (DEC) has approved the Dubai Urban Development Master Plan-2020 and will establish a ‘Supreme Urban Planning Council’ to streamline the urban and environmental planning process in the emirate, officials of the Dubai Municipality said on Tuesday.
The plan focuses on sustainable and economically viable projects and initiatives, according to Director-General Hussain Nasser Lootah. Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Future Cities Conference that runs parallel to Cityscape, Lootah said the plan for the next 10 years’ growth of the emirate had taken into account all aspects of residential, commercial and industrial infrastructure, public requirements for housing and recreational amenities and environmental challenges.
“Dubai is not just a real estate town… real estate is just a part of the city’s development. We are not making the plan for buildings. The plan will tell where we need to concentrate on in different sectors,” he said.
Assistant Director-General for Planning and Engineering Essa Al Maidour said economic growth is the driving force behind the master plan which is expected to generate more jobs in various sectors. “Our expectation is that Dubai can generate 950,000 jobs by 2020,” said Al Maidour. “We want to give importance to tourism and related sectors to boost the economy. Our focus is also on facilitating trade, re-export, industries and real estate.”
He said Jebel Ali will be one area which will see major development growth, with Al Maktoum International Airport and the port boosting the economy by enhancing trade.
The new plan estimates a population growth of about one million people by 2020. The plan has anticipated three population scenarios with 2.3 million as the lowest expected one. The maximum
Dubai plans to create 950,000 jobs by 2020 population projected now stands at 3.4 million, while officials expect that the middle level projection of 2.9 million would be closer to reality.
These new estimates were calculated after taking into account a statistical survey of all projects and the 1.9 million population in 2010.
Prior to 2008, the land committed for mega projects had a capacity to accommodate nine million people by 2020. However, since the actual population in 2010 stood at 1.9 million, Dubai is now looking at the revised population estimates for its further development and land use for mega projects.
“We think we will have the middle-level scenario (of estimated population) though we are planning for the high-level scenario to make things easy,” said Al Maidour.
“There will be legislations to facilitate the implementation of the plan and one major recommendation is to make businesses easy, which you have already started seeing,” he said, referring to the recently announced business-friendly initiatives.
The new plan also attempts to balance between urban development and conservation of the natural and man-made heritage environments, and natural resources.
(KHALEEJ TIMES)
