A series of projects have been planned for Dubai expansion this year, totalling UAD 3 billion for the fiscal year in the budget.

As part of an $817 million project, Dubai is planning to build two new residential districts. These new areas are only part of a series of projects budgeted for this fiscal year. The two new suburbs will be located in Deira and Bur Dubai, and the planned suburban community will offer more affordable properties.

Names have been decided but are pending government approval before being released. In addition to the developments, the Municipality will also be working on a new irrigation scheme, an important project that will make use of treated sewerage water.

Dubai is putting a lot of effort into boosting public services in order to become increasingly attractive. Fifteen new parks are planned as are a large zoo located in Dubailand, a large public library and an Olympic sized swimming pool capable of holding 15,000 spectators.

While estimates have been made, there is no specific planned time frame for each of these to be made available. The GCC has previously attempted to use privitisation projects like those found in Europe, but found that they didn't quite meet GCC standards. Dubai is considered one of the top tourist and business destinations in the world, and worries that excessive privitisation could jeopardise that. Some projects have been successful such as planting and landscaping.

While all of the planned projects are important, one of the most important is how growing refuse loads will be handled. To ensure that the tourism industry is not negatively impacted, Dubai must determine how to handle expected 8,000 tonnes of refuse per year expected by 2009. This isn't all, because of the amount of construction taking place in Dubai there is an estimate 30,000 tonnes of building and construction waste generated per day. The new sewage treatment plant expected in Jebel Ali is projected to handle over one million cubic meters per day.

Infrastructure changes on this magnitude display the commitment that a region has to attracting investors. Dubai has experienced years of growth, but refuses to let that overwhelm the country's resources.

More projects are expected to be announced this year.