DUBAI, 11 May 2007 — Dubai has won the best “Environmentally Safe City” award from the Kuwait-based Arab Towns Organization (ATO) that considered the city’s track record in developing effective preventive programs in the fields of maintaining general cleanliness of the city, control of noise pollution and other environment pollutants.
Abdullah Raffia, assistant director general of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Affairs, received the award recently in a ceremony held in Doha, Qatar, in the presence of Sheikh Abdul Rahman ibn Khalifa ibn AbdulAziz Al-Thani, Qatar’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture who chairs the award committee, and Abdul Aziz Al-Adasani, secretary general of ATO. Commenting on the award, Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai Municipality, said the city, despite its phenomenal growth in various spheres, follows a balanced environment policy in order to accomplish sustainable development.
“Environment conservation assumes top priority in our development plans. Dubai Municipality has introduced safety and protection of environment as a key strategic objective in our race for excellence,” Lootah said. The municipality has won the same award from ATO in 1995 in recognition of its good track record in environment management and pollution control.
