More civic services to be privatised

A new organisational structure that gives the private sector a larger role in providing services has been announced by the Abu Dhabi Municipality.

Announcing the municipality's five-year plan, Director-General Jumaa Mubarak Al Junaibi said yesterday many public services will be turned over to private companies to ensure they are provided efficiently and at a low cost. Strategic planning, he said, will remain the responsibility of the municipality.

The municipality will supervise and organise the services to ensure they are extended with quality, he said.

According to the new internal structure, the municipality will be made up of five sectors – strategic planning, performance management, urban planning, municipality services and support and logistics. As part of its continued efforts to streamline and reduce bureaucracy, the municipality cut its number of employees from 20,300 in June 2006 to 1,801 in December 2007 – a drop of 91 per cent. Al Junaibi said those changes were a big success and had not affected the quality of services.

Under the new system, the municipality will focus on detailed urban planning, review of building permits, public health and Abu Dhabi city's appearance, internal roads, parks and green areas, garbage management, property registration, and public facility management.

Al Junaibi said the municipality's strategic plan has been carefully crafted to ensure it is directly linked to the strategic priorities of Abu Dhabi Government, most importantly the consolidation of partnerships between the government and public sectors and paving the way for attracting investments.

In response to criticism about the standards of service provided by the private sector in sanitation and parks, Al Junaibi said while the municipality was committed to ensuring quality services, there would be no retreat from privatisation. "I believe it [privatisation] is successful in all standards, and the municipality is monitoring and following up private company work, and there is no problem," he said.

As far as upcoming projects are concerned, the director-general said the municipality is working on the launch of the world's largest car park to accommodate 70,000 cars, a public transport project to link the city to new projects and being able to offer 90 per cent of its services electronically.

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