Abu Dhabi has won the Arab world's top green city and most environment friendly city awards.
The double recognition was announced at the 2010 awards ceremony for leading Arab cities in environment, greening and landscaping, technology and architecture.
The annual event was hosted in Doha by the Arab Towns Organisation Award Establishment (ATOAE), the working arm of the Arab Towns Organisation (ATO), the largest organisation of municipalities and towns of Arab countries.
A third honour for Abu Dhabi was the prize won by National Centre of Falconry which came second in the best architectural project category. The top prize went to Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art, while the Imam Ali Mosque project in Lebanon was third.
The city of Beit Sahour, Palestine, won the architectural heritage award while the best architect award went to Emirati national Rashad Mohamed Bukhish, Qatari daily Gulf Times reported on Wednesday.
Egypt’s Alexandria City snatched the “environmental safety” while the “environment advocate” award went to Mohamed Imad Saad Jamal.
Qatar’s Rayyan City won the “landscaped city” award and Egyptian Mohamed Hisham Kamil won the “greening and landscaping expert” award.
In the IT category, Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh bagged the “user-friendly information technology” award, while Doha topped the Arab cities in the “programmes and software” category.
IT expert Dr Majid Bin Abdullah bin Mohamed Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was recognized as the best information and communication technology expert.
According to ATOAE officials, the review committee this year received 115 nominations, up from 65 in 2009.
The Kuwait-based ATO is a network of 400 towns from 22 Arab countries that works to develop co-operation between Arab cities and promote their development, while preserving the Arab identity.
