Part of Dubai Creek will be made two metres deeper and opened up to hundreds of large dhows and other commercial ships as part of an ambitious Dh200 million development announced yesterday.

The new maritime traffic will anchor at a new three-kilometre wharf between Deira Corniche and Palm Deira, and Business Bay Canal will be connected to the sea in moves aimed at boosting trade and tourism.

“Dubai Creek and dhows are one of the most important part of the economy,” Hussain Lootah, Dubai Municipality’s director general, said yesterday. “There is an increase in dhows. Some of the dhows have a special technical height and depth and some of them have difficulty in entering the creek. Therefore, we have decided to have more space, more handling areas, more logistics support. It is very important to keep the dhows close to the market.”

Work on the Dhow Wharfage Development at Deira Corniche, in front of Hyatt Regency, will begin next month at a cost of Dh200 million. It will accommodate nearly 400 dhows of different sizes berthed at the same time.

The creek will be dredged to seven metres metres from the existing five, and the wharf will have 30 loading and unloading bays. “The creek has some limitations. This wharf will meet the demand,” said Mr Lootah.

Ships will be able to enter this section directly from the sea. New quays and administrative buildings will be built and nearly 390,000 cubic metres of sand dredged from the creek bed will be used to reclaim land for the wharf. The development will be ready by the end of next year and will have full fire-fighting equipment to respond quickly to emergencies.

Authorities also promised to revive the stalled Business Bay Canal, which had been initiated by Dubai Holdings. Sea water will be brought from Jumeirah to the Business Bay area with the help of a pumping system. The sea water will be used to flush the four existing lagoons and, ultimately, will be channelled into the creek.

Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim Ali Juma, head of the Coastal Engineering Unit, said the water would be brought to the pumping station in Jumeirah Beach Park through a three-kilometre, underground tunnel.

“We will pump water from the sea to the lagoons to improve the water quality of the creek,” he said. The micro-tunnelling technique would not cause any obstruction to residents or road services.

The Business Bay Canal project will be completed in two phases. The first part will connect the canal to the sea. The second will connect it to the existing lagoons.

Municipality officials are confident that the estimated Dh200m project will beautify the emirate, increase tourism, and improve water quality. Mr Lootah said he hoped the waterway would eventually be navigable, but he conceded that the massive development was “complicated and challenging”.

The authority has conducted a hydrodynamic study on water circulation in the Business Bay Canal and the inner part of Dubai Creek. A consultant team will be hired next week. The project could take over two years to complete.

The municipality also announced yesterday that animals from the overcrowded Dubai Zoo will be moved to a new open safari park within the next two years.

About 400 hectares of land in Al Warqa’a on Aweer Road will be redeveloped to become Dubai Safari. It will include a butterfly and botanical garden, golf courses and other recreational activities.

“The zoo is one of the issues and has been the talk for many years,” Mr Lootah said.

Animal rights activists have criticised the zoo for its limited space, shared cages for animals of different species, and poor conditions. Despite the space constraint, Dubai Zoo officials have maintained that the animals are treated with great care.

The safari park will be divided into African, Asian and Arabian villages, with each village accommodating animals from those respective regions.

Dubai Safari will be developed on land that has been previously used to dump building materials. However, only 60 hectares of the Dh150 million park will be set aside for wildlife, comprising animals from the existing Dubai Zoo and new animals, which will be brought from zoos around the world.

“The project will go in different phases,” said Mr Lootah. Animals will be brought based on their ability to adapt to the weather.

Mr Lootah said he hoped Dubai Safari would be ready by the end of 2014. Land will levelled, and infrastructure – including recreational facilities – will be set up. Visitors will be able to travel around the 400-hectare area on solar-powered buggies and other vehicles.

pkannan@thenational.ae

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Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance on Wednesday has adjourned a hearing regarding a lawsuit filed by seven people against the Ministry of Interior for having their citizenships revoked.

The hearing will now be held on May 16 as per the Ministry’s request to present documents and formulate a reply to memorandums presented by the seven plaintiffs.

In December, the UAE revoked the citizenships on the grounds that the seven posed a threat to national security.

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M.H. (reader wishes to remain anonymous) asks: I knew him as a young girl and we were good friends.

I was not interested in him initially. As time passed, he liked another girl and got engaged to her.

We were best friends still, but then he started getting more and more attached to me. Once he tried to cross the limits, I stopped him. I fought with him, told him that he was cheating his fiancée and me.

Then he got married and after a few months he called back to say sorry and wanted to be friends again. He said he has changed.

But, all these months I missed him terribly. I lost my best friend… I don’t know about him, but I cried all the time. I told him that I can’t make a mistake of being a friend again.

Can we marry? That’s what I want. I can’t think of any other kind of relationship with him.

I never told him that I loved him, never expressed my feelings before the marriage. I felt so bad about myself. He married the girl he wanted. .. I had the option to be his friend.

I could not love anyone after that. After he got married, I realized that I was in love with him. He is happy but I’m NOT. His happiness and success makes me happy but I am not happy without him. I’m not in touch with him for years…I still want him. I still love him.

I tried getting over it and move on, but I fail every time I try. I can’t fall in love with any other man, even if he says he is madly in love with me.

Recently, someone else showed interest in me. I did not love him but he said he does. I liked him, but did not love him. My friends convinced me that he truly loves me. I was moody to the extent that people started noticing. It was an escape; I believed him. But he was cheating and he never intended to marry me. I felt bad, but not as much as I already was and I was happy that God saved me from him since he wasn’t honest.

I still long for my first love; he is the only one I want. I tried working, falling in love with another man, trying to be social, being busy with life but he is always in my mind. I don’t even get excited about other marriage proposals.

Even a single dream about him keeps me happy for the rest of the week. Anything related to him makes me happy… I truly love him.

I know everything happens for a reason. I know it was meant to be. I know there is no possibility that I can have him back. But still this HOPE does not die in me and I silently pray.

Why I still have this hope? Why, after seeing him HAPPYILY married I can’t move on? Why I still have thoughts about him? Why after the second bitter experience and good marriage proposals, I can’t move on….JUST WHY? I want him only. I can’t get rid of his thoughts. I pray to bring us together!

Everything is simple and clear yet so complicated for me.

Dr Saliha Afridi (Clinical Psychologist) replies: You have explained that you had fallen in love with a man who was your best friend. He cared about you but chose to marry another woman and is now happily married. You are finding it hard to move on and/or consider other marriage proposals seriously.

Unrequited love is a life-changing experience. Unless you make some meaning out of this experience, you will be stuck in this place.

This man came into your life to teach you something about life, love, and relationships. Ask yourself: what did I learn from this experience? It would surely be a total loss if you could not grow and learn from this experience. If you are stuck and can’t figure out what the lessons are, I suggest talking to a counselor or a psychologist to help you give this story meaning.

You also have to stop praying for him to come back to you. He is married and is happy. It is very difficult to accept this, but you must realize that what you had/could have had is over and that relationship can no longer be. It is a death of a sort and must be grieved as such. Face the loss of this relationship: be angry, be sad, cry, and process the grief so you can move towards acceptance. This starts with you making an intention to accept the loss, and move through the pain to a better and healthier place.

Lastly, the proposals you have must be seen for what they are, rather than be compared to the other man. I suggest that once you face the death of your past relationship, give yourself time to grieve and then start meeting other men.

If you meet men while you are deep in grief they will not see your true potential and you will not see there’s. How much time? It is hard to say, it depends on you and how you process the loss.

Write with your concerns to inmind@gulfnews.com and selected questions will be answered by a panel of qualified psychiatrists and psychologists. Your contributions will be modified for length and appropriateness, and will be open to other Gulf News readers to comment and suggest solutions. Let us know if you would like GulfNews.com to withhold your name from your letter should it be published.

Disclaimer: This blog is a conversation and is not an alternative for treatment. The recommendations and suggestions offered by our panel of psychiatrists are their own and Gulf News will not take any responsibility for the advice they provide.

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