Dubai: The mystery over the construction and location of a new zoo in Dubai has been resolved.
"Dubai Municipality will build a new zoo in Dubailand and the construction will start this year," said Engineer Eisa Al Maidour, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for General Projects Affairs.
He told Gulf News yesterday that the new Dubai Zoo would be built in cooperation with Dubailand. "We are planning, designing and constructing the zoo on the land provided by Dubailand. It is a joint venture," he added.
Animals from the existing Dubai Zoo in Jumeirah will be moved to the new zoo.
Al Maidour said the zoo will be constructed in phases because it is a huge project that is aimed at attracting not only residents but also visitors from around the world because it will be a major tourist attraction in Dubai.
"During the first phase, we will build the core zoo and shift animals from the existing zoo and it will hopefully be done within one and a half years," he said. Around 1,200 animals are currently cramped in the existing zoo in Jumeirah.
The new zoo, which is being built on 500 acres of land, will also have zoo safari, night zoo, and educational and recreational facilities for children and adults.
The delay in the project happened due to a change of location. "We had plans to build a zoo at Mushrif Park but it was moved to Dubailand because it is a much better location and has easy access from all sides," he said.
"Also, we don't want to build just another typical zoo. We want to be creative and build something different matching Dubai's image. We are in touch with different zoo authorities in the world and will bring best practices to Dubai Zoo," he said.
Al Maidour said there is a possibility of introducing a camel safari in the Dubai Zoo.
This is the third time during the past five years that the plan for the zoo has been changed. The municipality had first announced building a zoo in Al Mushrif Park in 2003 but the plan was shelved.
Again, the civic body announced building the Dh200 million zoo at a new location in November 2005 in Mushrif area and was supposed to complete the zoo by 2008. There has been a phenomenal growth in the number of zoo visitors over the last few years.
