• Home

Sowing the seed for a thousand blooms

DUBAI — He participated in the preparation of the master plan for the construction of Al Ain city, and in making regulations and guidelines which led it to acquire its name. He conceived it as an example of a good set-up as well as a great model city in the emirate.

Yousif Mohammed Idries, Architect and Engineer at Al Ain Municipality, arrived in Al Ain city in 1978, and supervised the construction of Al Ain Zoo, which is one the city’s main landmarks.

Idries — ever since he arrived in Al Ain — worked in a contracting company, and in 1981, he joined the Al Ain Municipality where he worked in various technical departments. He was in charge of building permit and project sections, and he participated in a large number of projects as a project manager.

Telling the story of development in Al Ain, Idries said that when he arrived in Al Ain town, it was very small, the houses were constructed on traditional lines, being made from dried earth and other locally available material.

"There was only one main street which was used by the inhabitants of the town, and the only educational institute in Al Ain was the Islamic Institute, which has now become the University of Al Ain. The Al Ain, Tawam, and Al Waha hospitals were all constructed one after another. Then, the features of the modern city started appearing, following the preparation of a masterplan to construct the town in 1983," he said, adding: “As I was participating in town construction, I witnessed and participated in the construction of public housing projects which aimed at moving the UAE national away from the traditional houses to well-designed modern villas, distributed to them by the government.”

Idries said he could not imagine that one day he would be working in the oasis town at the periphery of an empty desert.

“Al Ain has always been fertile and a typical oasis in the desert. But the vision of one man, the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, former UAE president, has made the city of Al Ain what it is today, and whose life has been inextricably linked with Al Ain for more than 70 years.”

Today, Al Ain is a thriving modern city and the country’s centre of learning, housing the UAE University, in addition to technological colleges. A branch of the Ajman University for Science and Technology has also been opened in the city.

Al Ain is famous for its roundabouts. The intersections of the main dual carriageways are almost all roundabouts. A majority of them comprise features symbolising the heritage of the city or the emirate, such as pearl shells, traditional coffee pots, camels, Arabian Oryx, dhows, falcons, and forts.

Idries said life in UAE in the past was very simple and affordable, but now it has become very difficult for expatriates, especially those who have children, as the cost of living has become very expensive.

“Earlier, education as well as health insurance used to be free, but now it is very costly. Social life in Al Ain has been so much affected by globalisation, as many social changes have been witnessed during the last few years. But still, there is great social interaction among expatriates and UAE nationals in the town, as compared to other cities in the UAE.”

• UAE