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19 March 2024

Dubai Canal: What Safa Park will look like...

Published
By Majorie van Leijen and Bindu Rai

Behind the walls temporarily drawn up to demarcate the perimeter of Al Safa Park that will eventually be intersected by Dubai Canal, several hands are at work to transform the public park into a new waterfront destination.

Behind Gates 3, 4 and 5, nothing seems to be the same. What was once a lush area with paved roads, picnic tables and other amenities is now ground zero, made ready to see many more changes over the years to come.

A look behind the scenes offers an idea of what the future has to offer.

A large part of Al Safa Park will be dedicated to the waterfront. The area stretching from Gate 3 to Gate 5 is under construction, an area which makes up more than half of the park.

Staff working at the construction site maintain that nearly 60 per cent of the park has been cordoned off to make way for the seven-metre deep and 30 metres wide trench that will ultimately form the Dubai Canal.

Interestingly, a new wall is being erected to reportedly mark the new perimeter to Al Safa Park.

The wall is located halfway down the park, where the construction zone ends, and runs between Al Wasl Road and Sheikh Zayed Road.

If this wall-in-the making indeed forms what is to become the new gateway to Al Safa Park, it looks like Dubai Canal will form a natural border on the northern part, rather than be part of the park, something which was confirmed further by staff working on the site.

Iconic pedestrian bridges will cross over the canal to connect Al Safa Park with the surrounding neighbourhoods, the Roads and Transport Authority said earlier.

At this point, it is not clear where these bridges will be formed. However, it seems that the waterway crossings will enable visitors to enter the park from the northern side, after crossing Dubai Canal.

Docking stations will also reportedly be constructed for boats and serve as a waterway access into the park.

Further down, Gates 1 and 2 will remain in place, said staff on the site.

Another prominent feature of the park that will have to bend is the jogging track, which earlier formed a 3.5km long running trail around the park. Some adjustments have already been made and the track will be rerouted eventually.

In order to make place for the road diversions on Al Wasl Road, the jogging track has been diverted for a small part on the eastern side.

In future, staff stated it is likely to make a curve at that point, to follow the outer perimeter of the newly erected wall, making it much shorter in distance, much to the relief of first time runners.

Parking facilities outside Al Safa Park have now temporarily been closed on the side bordering Al Wasl Road due to the road diversions; visitors have been told to park at gates 1 and 2.

New parking facilities will be constructed once the ground work is done, but the location is not yet clear.

With the relatively easy ground to convert, this part of Dubai Canal is likely to take shape sooner than in other areas.

With most of the existing objects removed and the area closed off from public activities, digging of the canal can start soon, and curious visitors can get a glimpse as they pass by.