Dubai has approved the immediate rollout of a deep-tunnel drainage system designed to safeguard the city against flooding for the next 100 years, Khaleej Times reported.
The announcement came during the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Forum 2025, where Dubai Municipality Acting Director General Eng. Marwan Bin Ghalita underscored how last year’s record rainfall accelerated the push for smarter, future-proof infrastructure.
“The recent rain incident may be a blessing from which we have learned a lot,” Bin Ghalita said. “The first benefit for me is the collaboration of all parties as one team, and the message that no entity is to blame for anything; we are one team that must solve this crisis.”
He noted that the extraordinary rainfall in April 2024, which overwhelmed existing systems, became the catalyst for fast-tracking long-planned projects aimed at strengthening the city’s resilience.
Bin Ghalita confirmed that the deep drainage initiative is now under way. “Today, the deep tunnels and drainage project has been approved, and implementation has begun for the next 100 years,” he stated. He stressed that the undertaking relies on public-private partnerships, saying: “The beautiful thing about this is our partnership with the private sector. Today, Dubai as a brand is something everyone wants to work with; every global company wants to collaborate with you, and the project has started implementation.”
Alongside the massive tunnel project, Dubai Municipality is harnessing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify vulnerable zones and streamline emergency responses. Data integration, Bin Ghalita added, is becoming a cornerstone of crisis management: “The most important benefit we need to build on is the integration of systems in databases because when a crisis happens, you need data from everywhere. The disaster management and control centre needs data. Today, we are working on establishing the infrastructure, as we mentioned, for drainage and tunnels, as well as a robust database that provides clear data, enabling you to make quick decisions.”
