By Zairina Zainudin
DUBAI, Oct 21 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Construction of the Malaysia Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 is set to begin in December this year with completion due in July 2020.
The ground breaking ceremony for the pavilion, which is situated in Tera — the expo’s Sustainability district — was officiated by Malaysia’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Mohd Tarid Sufian here, today.
He was accompanied by deputy commissioner-general Dr Mohd Nor Azman Hassan; Syed Ahmad Syed Mustafa, Malaysian Green Technology Corporation acting chief executive officer; and Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali, executive director of the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau.
The Malaysia pavilion will be jointly constructed by Qube Integrated Sdn Bhd and Dubai company RAQ Contracting LLC.
A six-month-long mega-event, the Dubai Expo 2020 which is set to start on Oct 20, 2020 will be the first ever World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region.
A total of 192 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, France, Poland, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Brazil, have confirmed their participation.
Malaysia’s “The Rainforest Canopy” Pavilion will showcase energy efficient features, including heli-fans to enhance airflow, self-shading and green landscaping with vertical gardens, solar panels and water harvesting system.
The pavilion itself will consume 20 per cent less energy throughout its operations, and the materials used to build the structure will also be reused once the pavilion has been dismantled.
Meanwhile, popular American singer Mariah Carey and Emirati star Hussain Al Jassmi headlined the celebrations at Burj Park, as part of Expo 2020’s One Year to Go (1YTG) activations across all seven emirates.
The one-year countdown to Expo 2020 kicked off across the UAE on Sunday evening, bringing together people from across the globe and offering a glimpse into next year’s expo, known as the ‘World’s Greatest Show.’
One attendee was Sara Al Boom, an Emirati digital media manager at Dubai Cares, who has been watching the Expo 2020 campaign evolve, since the city won the bid in Nov, 2013.
I’ve been following the Expo story since the day Dubai got the bid, and I think it’s remarkable how the past seven years have gone by and how the entire city is now very much in tune with the concept of Expo and what Dubai is trying to push towards,” the 27 year old was reported saying by UAE’s WAM agency.
–NNN-BERNAMA