Dubai: Dubai has won the most 'Environmentally Safe City' award from the Kuwait-based Arab Towns Organisation which considered the city's track record in developing effective programmes to maintain general cleanliness of the city and control noise pollution and other pollutants.

Abdullah Raffia, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Affairs, received the award recently in Doha in the presence of Shaikh Abdul Rahman Bin Khalifa Bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani, Qatar's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture who also chairs the award committee, and Abdul Aziz Al Adasani, Secretary General of the Arab Towns Organisation (ATO).

Commenting on the award, Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the city, despite its phenomenal growth, follows a balanced environmental policy to accomplish sustainable development. "Environment conservation assumes top priority in our development plans," he said.