The emirate of Dubai will be fully prepared to receive 25 million visitors when it hosts the World Expo 2020 international event in six years time. Speaking in an interview, Najeeb Mohammad Saleh, Head of Planning Research Section, Planning Department at Dubai Municipality, discussed how Dubai expects to cope with the influx of residents and visitors in 2020, we looked at three different scenarios – Low, Medium, Rapid and adopted the medium-growth scenario, and expect the population by 2020 to be about 2.8 million.
In 2010, the Executive Council appointed a steering committee made up of Dubai Municipality, the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai Civil Aviation, Lands Department, and Dubai Maritime City. These six government entities have since been responsible for planning, implementing and supervising the master plan for Dubai 2020.
In 2010, Dubai recorded 1.9 million residents and by the end of 2013 this had reached 2.23 million. “The existing urban area can reach up to 93,106 hectares, which we feel is sufficient for us. And, by 2020, we expect to grow an additional 25,000 hectares. But even if the rate of the growth is faster than we expect, with a maximum of 38,000 hectares, the capacity of the city and its urban area can still hold that,” said Saleh.
The city’s urban planning also involves evaluating the amount of office and retail space needed by 2020. There were 5.1 million square metres of existing office space in 2010, and the demand for 2020 is expected to add an additional 1.8 million square metres. The total retail floor space in 2010 was 5.3 million square metres, and is expected to increase to 6.5 million square metres.
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