Dubai is planning to spend AED 30 bn to upgrade its drainage network, after record flooding in April damaged city infrastructure and disrupted operations, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on X yesterday. The planned drainage network will handle up to 20 mn cubic meters of water daily, and increase the emirate’s rainwater drainage capacity eightfold, Sheikh Mohammed said.

Project timeline: Construction for the drainage network will kick off in stages, with the handover scheduled by 2033.

Seeing the cup half full: The torrential storms — which saw more than a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day — “taught us many lessons and helped us recognize where we need to improve readiness to be better prepared for the future,” Sheikh Mohammed said. Bloomberg also had the story.

We knew an upgrade was coming: In the weeks after the April storm, Prince Mohamed bin Zayed issued a directive to evaluate the country’s infrastructure. The Energy and Infrastructure Ministry began preparing a “complete study” on dam and waterway expansions, and dispatched teams to assess the impact of heavy rainfall on dams and roads and create strategies to bolster dam capacity, enhance waterways, repair damaged roads, and upgrade rainwater drainage along federal roads to withstand severe future weather events.

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