Abu Dhabi City Municipality said it had saved Dh1.058 billion ($288 million) after the civic body started applying sustainability standards to various types of infrastructural projects.

 The achievement is thanks to the implementation of the standards of value engineering and sustainability during the initial designs phases of the municipal projects, it stated.

 The municipality started implementing sustainability standards in various roads, parks and infrastructural projects in Abu Dhabi city in 2011. Projects are being designed with special attention to the municipal standards including sustainability requirements, which have also been incorporated in the design manuals and specifications of constructing roads, infrastructure, parks and recreational facilities across Abu Dhabi in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, it stated.

The municipality had used geosynthetics in the design of asphalt pavements of road and development projects. This practice has yielded encouraging and positive construction results such as increasing the design lifespan of paved roads service from 20 to 30 years, reducing the thickness of asphalt pavements by 20 to 30 per cent and reducing the cost of asphalt construction by 10 to 20 per cent, it stated.

The municipality has also started its project aimed at reusing various road layers in maintenance through recycling cold asphalt at the project site, thus eliminating the hassles of using and transporting new materials to the site.

 The Abu Dhabi City Municipality said its municipal infrastructure and assets sector clinched an international sustainability award last year (Retrofit Tech Award 2017) for the Best Lighting Project for Yas Island Street Lighting Project and the Street Lighting Guide for Abu Dhabi. The lighting strategy will reduce the total cost by about 40 per cent over the next 20 years compared to previous standards, it added.