The region's air conditioning market is growing at a rapid pace even in the face of a slowdown,  industry experts stated.

Currently, district cooling in the region amounts to about 1.8 million tonnes of air conditioning, which is valued at Dh1.32 billion ($360 million),
according to the Gulf News report.

'We expect another 6.5 million tonnes of air conditioning from district cooling between now and 2015 which sends up the market to $1.2 billion,' Aftab Khan, chief executive of Carrier, was quoted as saying in the report.