Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is one of the strategic development projects of the master plan development of public beaches in Dubai and now its master plan has been endorsed by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum crown prince of Dubai and chairman of the executive council.
The 6.6 km beach is expected to turn into a recreational zone in the framework of the Protection of the Environment program.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed said: “Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, we are committed to developing the infrastructure and services needed to offer diverse urban experiences for citizens, residents, and visitors. Our focus is on creating spaces rich in beaches, open areas, and recreational greens. The ultimate goal is to enhance the well-being of the city’s people, create a healthy environment for all and make Dubai the world’s best place to live in.”
His Highness added: “The Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is part of a broader master plan to develop public beaches in the emirate aimed at increasing the total length of beaches by 400%. This involves adding new public beaches, enhancing existing ones, and equipping them with new recreational, sports, aesthetic, and investment facilities as envisioned in the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan.”
Key features
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Commissioner General for Infrastructure, Urban Planning, and Well-Being Pillar, said: “An open beach for the public and a site of global environmental importance, the Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is the first of its kind in the UAE. It is located within the Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary, listed under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The project aims to create a unique, attractive recreational beachfront with a strong emphasis on protecting the environment and supporting the emirate’s sustainability and eco-tourism goals. The beach’s development will ensure the preservation and enhancement of ecosystems and wildlife at the site, including enhancing turtle habitats and planting mangrove trees, which will contribute to blue carbon footprint growth and provide an open beach with minimal impact on ecological and biological systems.”
“We have approved the master plan and designs of Jebel Ali Beach Development Project as per Dubai 2040 Master Plan aimed at growing and increasing the area of public beaches by 400%. The extraordinary feature is considered to be the project length, 6.6 km, the total area of which equals 330 hectares,” he said.
The project’s purpose is to develop an extraordinary recreational facility with a focus on environmental conservation and wildlife and natural habitat preservation.
Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is one of the frameworks of the master plan which is aimed at the development of public beaches in the emirate of Dubai.
New recreational, sports, aesthetic and investment facilities will be provided at these beaches which is line with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan of how the emirate will look by mid of this century.
“An open beach for the public and a scientifically significant area for environmental concerns, the Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is an outstanding facility in the UAE is housed within the Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary registered under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance,” Mattar Al Tayer, Commissioner General for Infrastructure, Urban Planning, and Well-Being Pillar said.
Speaking of the project’s particulars, “The key objective is to design an alluring recreational beachfront with a focus on environmental protection in sync with the emirate’s Sustainability and Ecotourism strategies; the given beach development will ensure protection and improvement of ecosystems and wildlife on the site, including augmenting turtle nesting zones and planting mangroves to address blue carbon footprint increase and creating an open beach with as little impact on ecological/biological systems,” he said.
“The Jebel Ali Beach, which is planned be the longest public open beach in Dubai, will span 330 hectares,” Al Tayer added.
- The development plan includes two distinct areas: A 5 Km sandy beach to be developed by Nakheel and 1.6 km mangrove beach to be developed by Dubai municipality.
- It will contain a 2km long open beach that will be swimmable, as well as a 2. Diving sports complex with a length of 5 kilometres and width of 2. A proposed 5-kilometre long walkway with watching terraces that is eco-friendly.
- There will also be recreational and services facilities to serve the beach will include; child’s play area and beach sports/marine activity area.
While the latter is not deemed to be total without infrastructure development which is among the project input. - The beach will also be connected to mechanically integrated facilities like two way dual carriageway, a capacity car park of one thousand car spaces, bike stands, cycling ways and track for jogging of 5 kilometers.
The proposed improvements will be aimed at enlarging the accessibility and boosting the encouragement for the active leisure among the guests.
Three Locations
The beach development will be segmented into three separate areas, each providing a different type of experience, as Al Tayer states:
The Pearl: Beside the right side near the entrance at Palm Jebel Ali, there will be a building designated for functions relevant to the beach and recreation going on. These will be fun family beach, sports sections, swimming pool, children play areas, a beach bar/restaurant with pool and private beach – at a fee, restaurants, cafes, shops, and a floating restaurant in a special zone, stated.
The Sanctuary: It is therefore designed tactfully as the turtles and natural structure zone. “This area is strictly related to environment conservation, and include the recreational and sports facilities for safe environment discoveries.” Al Tayer further said.
The Nest: Stating itself in the Mangrove segment, It is suggested that the Nest must meet the recreation/education sectors and will contain the educational measures, along with environmental preservation.
“Besides, the layout involves an environmental forward centre educating the community on the coastal environment, the process of rehabilitation of turtles and the protection of turtles,” he said.
“The construction of the buildings and other facility in the Jebel Ali Beach Development Project is based on natural geometry that has derived from the sea organisms’ shapes such as corals and shell of a turtle and Boho Syle that involves the use of facilities and material that are available locally.”
“There is such resemblance to the dunes in the structures that surround it,” he said when explaining the investment opportunities in the project which include restaurants; leisure centres and commercial kiosks necessary to cater for comfort and need of the sunbathing beach lovers interested in investment opportunities in the project.
Lately, the Supreme Committee of Urban Planning and the Quality of life granted licenses that concerned Al Mamzar Beach and Jumeirah 1 Beach totaling to 5.7kilometres in length, where Al Mamzar stretches to a 4.3 kilometre shoreline and a 1.4 kilometre shoreline of Jumeirah 1 Beach.
Key objectives
There are several objectives that the Dubai Beach Developed plan seeks to facilitate:
• 100% full development of the beaches
• Percentage increment of provisions of services on the public beaches to rise to a staggering 400 percent.
• night-swimmable beaches to have increase by 56 percent, that is equivalent to 450 meters of the beach.
• 285 percent increase in cycling tracks way along the beaches (amounting 15.15 kilometers)
• Additional 125 percent of the proposed length of jogging tracks that is 11 kilometer.
Moreover, all the plan entails provisions of services and facilities for the PWDs and the specific plan takes this into account in accordance with the Dubai Code for an Accessible Environment and the best practices internationally.
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It’s worth noting that Dubai currently boasts eight public beaches: Al Mamzar Beach, Al Mamzar Corniche, Jumeirah 1, 2 and 3, Umm Suqeim 1 and 2 and Jebel Ali Beach. All of these beaches have been awarded the international Blue Flag status, given to free available beaches that strictly meet certain requirements.