AGENDA
Meeting Title Concentration of population in Abu Dhabi city center
Location: - HCT/men’s, F11 classroom.October 10th, 20122:30 p.m., To 3:30 p.m.
Meeting called by: - Mr. Omar Al Shehhi / Chairman.
Attendees: - Mr. Khaled Al Menhali / Secretary.
Mr. Omar Abdul Naser / Member.
Mr. Mansoor Noor / Member.
Mr. Ali Al Hammadi / Member.
2:30 p.m., to 2:240p.m. Introduction
I would like to introduce the group names & their titles. My name is Omar Al Shehhi as Chairman, Mr. Khaled Al Menhali as Secretary, Mr. Omar Abdul Naser, Mr. Mansoor Noor and Mr. Ali Al Hammadi as participants.
The subject to be discussed in the meeting below is the reason why the population doesn’t like to stay out of the city center:-
1. Most Government departments & others are in the city center.
2. Shortage of public transportation outside city.
3. Shortage of malls, parks, colleges etc outside city.
4. Infrastructure outside the city.
5. Suggestions to motivate people to move outside the city.
1. Most Government departments & others are in the city center.
It has been noted that most government departments in Abu Dhabi are located in the city center; in addition working time for the employees is similar; this timing situation leads to congested traffic on the road.
We suggest either changing the time or moving some of these departments outside the city center.
2. Shortage of public transportation outside the city.
We found, after experiments done by the department of transportation, the public prefer using their own cars.
Mr. Omar Abdul Naser suggested to avoid these issues to start with government departments inside the city to force their employees to use public transportation at the beginning then to implement for other private & semi-government departments which he thinks may work smoothly.
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3. Shortage of malls, parks, colleges etc outside the city.
Mr. Mansoor Noor strongly agreed with this point since he is staying outside Abu Dhabi city & notices that we need more focus on the above requirements.
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4. Infrastructure outside the city.
Mr. Ali Al Hammadi disagreed with this point by noticing most of the outside cities are fully completed cities.
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5. Suggestions to motivate people to move outside the city.
Mr. Khaled Al Menhali suggested:-
· Move some government departments outside the city.
· Force, by adding new laws, large & medium departments to build offices next door to resident buildings.
Mr. Omar Al Shehhi suggested:-
· Abu Dhabi needs a metro like Dubai which will reduce a lot of traffic.
· Stop issuing new driving licenses & more control by Ministry of Interior with proper channels.
Problem: Concentration of population in Abu Dhabi city center
Date of meeting: 10th October 2012
Time of meeting: 2:30 p.m., To 3:30 p.m.
Venue: F11
Group members:
Chair: Omar Al Shehhi.
Secretary: Khaled Al Menhali.
Participant: Hedley.
Venue preparation:
Grouping of chairs round tables
Agenda:
1. Most Government departments & others are in the city center.
2. Shortage of public transportation outside city.
3. Shortage of malls, parks, colleges etc. outside city.
4. Infrastructure outside the city.
5. Suggestions to motivate people to move outside the city.
Omar Al Shehhi opened the meeting by saying that most government departments in Abu Dhabi are located in the city center; in addition working time for the employees is similar; this timing situation leads to traffic on the road.
Ø Most Government departments & others are in the city center.
It has been noted that most government departments in Abu Dhabi are located in the city center; in addition working time for the employees is similar; this timing situation leads to traffic on the road. We suggest either changing the time or moving some of these departments outside the city center.
Ø Shortage of public transportation outside the city.
To avoid these issues to start with government departments inside the city to force their employees to use public transportation at the beginning then to implement for other private & semi government departments which we think may work smoothly.
Ø Shortage of malls, parks, colleges…..etc outside city.
With this point since Mansoor is staying outside Abu Dhabi city & notices that we need more focus on the above requirement.
Ø Infrastructure outside the city.
Most of the outside cities are fully completed cities.
Ø Suggestions to motivate people to move outside the city.
Move some government departments outside the city; force, by adding new laws, large & medium departments to build offices next door to resident buildings.
In conclusion we thought that:
1. Abu Dhabi needs a metro as Dubai which will reduce a lot of traffic; stop issuing new driving licenses & more control by Ministry of Interior with proper channels.
2. Move some government departments to outside the city; force by adding new laws, large & medium departments to build offices next door to resident buildings.
3. Force the people to use the public transportation by managing it with the government departments and the private companies.
4. Add more activity outside city to attract all categories of the population.
5. Add more health care.
The meeting was well controlled by Omar Al Shehhi and Omar Abdul Naser. All members contributed to the discussion.
Reflection:-
I believe that by analyzing the top 5 reasons that led to the concentration of population in Abu Dhabi city center and offering a solution to each of those 5 reasons ,will dramatically change the current situation and will definitely lead to spread the population over a wider area in Abu Dhabi emirate which in fact has a huge area of lands that not occupied or used for accommodation or commercial purposes ,and that fact can be looked at as a positive factor because that will enable the decision makers to have alternative area for moving the population concentration.
This plan is a must for the long term, taking into consideration the economic and population growth in Abu Dhabi emirate at the same time the limited space in the concentrated city center
The excellent economic growth has of course its own requirements, which Land space is one of the top priorities to build the needed industrial, commercial and accommodations area.
And talking about the subject ,we cannot deny that government already has taken a steps successfully in that direction in the last few years , take for example the successful accommodations projects that been built outside Maqtaa bridge like Al Reef, Khalif A, Khalifa B Mussafah areas , those areas within a few years were filled by hundreds of thousands of people living there supported by malls ,police stations, Petroleum stations ,schools ,medical centers ,,etc and more of the vital infrastructure .taking those successful examples and use them as a role module to open a much more new accommodation areas will definitely solve the problem.
At the end, we personally feel optimistic that we all see a solution ,but of course it needs an efforts not only from government side but from all of us as a corporate and social community and as an individuals as well.