Qatar will have three parks with air-conditioned paths – a world-first – powered by solar energy, a senior official of the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) told Al Rayyan TV.
The parks are Umm Al Seneem Park, Al Gharrafa Park, and Rawdat Al Khail (formerly Al Muntazah Park), Public Projects Department head Engineer Abdul Hakim al-Hashimi said, according to tweets from the channel.
"We are working on the implementation of the three parks in co-operation with the Parks Department of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME)," he said.
Umm Al Seneem Park is to have an area of 130,000sq m, Al Gharrafa Park 50,000sq m, and Rawdat Al Khail 140,000sq m.
At Umm Al Seneem the 1,150m long air-conditioned paths are designed with three tracks for walking, running, and cycling.
"We completed this project after studies conducted since 2009, and the idea of air-conditioning came from the World Cup stadiums and then moved on to Katara Street," al-Hashimi recalled. "We took all these studies and developed a new system, for which we obtained a patent.”
“There are two play areas for children, one for 2-5 years old, and the second for 6 -12 years, in addition to three areas for sports,” he added. “We left the children’s areas open with no barriers, and tried to use plants instead.
“In addition to separating the areas, there are hills that block the view into the park from outside.”
"When we built these tracks, we implemented them in three stages,” al-Hashimi said. “We used plants, because they contribute to reducing the temperature by 10° Celsius, and we designed the systems for summer and winter periods, such as five months for the summer, and the rest for the rest of the year when temperature is below 40C.”
"Each park will have 70% green area, in addition to parking lots from 115 to 375 each," he added.