Plan Al Ain leaves more questions than answers

Jeff Roberts

While Plan Al Ain 2030 comes together to create an impressive package, important questions remain as to the project’s deliverability.

For example, the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) seems intent on protecting agriculture lands and surrounding eco-systems, yet it has instituted a G+4 limit for the height of buildings, which means the UAE’s fourth largest city will continue to sprawl outward rather than grow upward.

Also, Plan Al Ain outlines policies for facilities including mosques, gathering places, recreation areas and shopping precincts – all of which are important components for a city but none of which encourage the level of density being sought.

Moreover, officials from the UPC outlined an initiative to expand the city toward Jebel Hafeet by way of a large-scale residential, leisure and retail development, which seems to contradict the idea of creating density in the city centre.

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Furthermore, neither the UPC nor Al Ain Municipality would even hazard a guess as to the scale of investment needed to put Plan Al Ain into action. And, while HE Falah Al Ahbabi, general manager of UPC, insisted that officials would use the world’s best urban planning architects and consultants to implement the strategy and preserve the architectural heritage of the region, no names were provided and no architectural styles were mentioned.

In fact, Al Ahbabi was unable to say even when the UPC would start accepting bids for any of the projects related to Plan Al Ain.

While Plan Al Ain is a positive step in the right direction for Abu Dhabi and the UAE, these and several other questions remain as to how this project will be delivered in this timeframe under these guidelines.

Read the news story: Plan Al Ain 2030 unveiled here

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