Director general of Dubai Municipality, Hussain Nasser Lootah, has said the project has been approved in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The eco-friendly city will be the shape of a flower and feature shopping malls, villas, schools and hospitals.

The project, which Gulf News has reported to cost AED 30 billion, will be built on Dubai-Al Ain road on 14,000 hectares of land. 

It will have plenty of green spaces and recycling facilities, and according to Dawood Al Hajiri, Executive Director of the Municipality’s Planning Department, the smart city will be will be completely sustainable.

According to reports around 75 percent of Desert Rose City will be housing, which will utilise solar panel rooftops.

With 20,000 plots for building luxury homes for Emiratis and 10,000 affordable housing units for expats, the plan is to accommodate 160,000 residents who will work and live in this eco-friendly satellite city.

It will power its own transport and communications and have the resources to provide more than 40,000 cubic meters of recycled, drinkable water.

The focus is on providing its future residents with everything they need on their doorsteps, such as police stations, mosques, shopping malls and hopsitals, so there will be no need to commute into central Dubai.