Abu Dhabi is scaling back its plans for Masdar, its $22 billion sustainable city:
Plans originally called for Masdar City to become a self-contained “carbon-neutral” community of 40,000 residents and even more commuters. Cars would be banned. Waste and water would be recycled.
It is meant to be a marked environmental contrast to other cities in the Emirates, where fuel-guzzling SUVs and year-round air conditioning powered by fossil fuel are common.
The state company behind the city said Sunday the project now won’t be completed until at least 2020 — four years after the original deadline — and that work could stretch until 2025.
The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. — which goes by Masdar or “source” in Arabic — also backed away from original plans to power the city solely on power produced on site. The latest plans still call for the project to rely solely on renewable energy, however.