Car-free day in Dubai on February 21

Dubai - Many Dubai residents will be ?walking, cycling and using any of the public transport modes to work?.

Dubai will observe the 7th Car Free Day on February 21 with an estimated participation of a record 1000 entities from the government and private sectors. 
Senior officials and employees of the participating departments and companies will be ?walking, cycling and using any of the public transport modes to work?. Leading the initiative, most of the directors of the government departments ditching their luxury cars will ride the Dubai Metro.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the Director General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah said the initiative is one of the ideas towards fulfilling the environmental requirements for achieving the status of a sustainable city to Dubai. 
"We started small...But today we have a lot of government and private establishments joining us ?in the drive towards sustainability." 

Image by Rahul Gajjar/ Khaleej Times
He urged residents to make the initiative a big success and requested establishments to provide mass transport modes like buses to facilitate individuals to go to work without cars. 
In 2010, Dubai joined the global Car-Free Day campaigns, devoting a day to ditch cars and opt for public transport in an attempt to reduce carbon emission and environmental pollution. While the first edition of the initiative saw just about 1500 employees and officials of the civic body switching to the Metro and buses, other governmental departments and ministries joined the drive over the years.
In 2015, several thousands of officials and employees from over 300 government and private organizations participated in the internationally appreciated green campaign of Dubai?. 
sajila@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai