UAE NEWS
Source : The National
Buses bulge with passengers
ABU DHABI - Jul 06: Friday may mark the start of the weekend, but it is the one day most people regard with dread because of the seemingly futile search for an empty taxi.
This weekend, however, promised to be different. For the first time, taxis had a rival: free, air-conditioned buses.
After a few journeys across town, it was evident that the fleet of turquoise buses was winning the battle for passengers.
And the hordes, it seemed, were a little less mad. Bus after teeming bus, ferrying hundreds of passengers, lurched into the dozens of new terminals that have appeared across the city. Most were packed to capacity, with people standing and hanging on to safety harnesses as the buses swung round corners.
Taxi drivers, waiting for fares and looking on with envy, muttered about losing passengers and, more importantly, money to public transport.
But most people were appreciative of the buses.
One mall reported its “best ever” business, claiming the buses were bringing in new shoppers who had never ventured there before, reluctant to pay taxi fares.
“Today is more busy than a normal day, maybe the best we have ever had,” Dias Antony, the manager of housekeeping at Marina Mall, said as he watched streams of shoppers cut through the taxi queues to board waiting buses.
It was mostly middle-class who shoppers who appeared to be using the buses to get to malls, he said.
“We noticed many more customers coming now because of the buses,” he said. “And they are not just the people who have cars or the rich people, so we are very happy to see this.”
Mohammed Ounah, a petrol-station worker from Syria, said he opted for the bus after waiting for an hour for a taxi on Muroor Road.
“I wait, I wait, I wait and no taxi is coming. I don’t know where [this bus] is going, but it has air-conditioning and someone told me I can ride to Abu Dhabi Mall.” Others travelling on the No 54 bus said they were sacrificing the comfort of a taxi for the convenience of the free bus. Sweaty arms competed for handles, but commuters kept things civil, apologising for any rogue feet that trod on neighbours’ shoes.
“Be careful – quickly, quickly!” warned Mohammed Khalil, clearing other passengers away from the side entrance as the bus heaved to a stop and the automatic doors swung open.
“These doors are a danger,” the student, 19, from Palestine, said.
People were squeezed into any place they could find.
Bakhtrawam Abdul Gafar, the bus driver, estimated he was carrying “90 to maybe 100” passengers at a time. This is despite a maximum capacity of 45 passengers.
Crammed among the anonymous limbs was Aarni Kudtarkar, aged two, who was being carried by her father as the family rode home to Hamdan Street.
“She is very small, but she enjoys travelling,” Nilesh Kudtarkar, an accountant from India, said of his daughter’s first trip on the bus. “Sometimes we can wait for one hour for a taxi. Today, [the bus] came within five minutes. It’s a big difference.”
The difference was noticeable near closing time on Friday night at Marina Mall – the only stop shared by all four bus routes.
But while the malls saw more customers, taxis saw fewer.
“Compared with other days, this line is nothing,” Mohammed Atta, a taxi driver on a break at Marina Mall, said of the taxi queue. “Normally, this Friday and Saturday is always crowded, but nowadays it is much shorter. Maybe it’s because of the buses, but this is also holiday time.”
Sameh Elmusry, an Al Ghazal driver from Egypt, pointed to the six empty silver cabs lined up behind him.
“You see many people here for buses, but not taxis,” he said. “Before, everyone was taking taxis back from Marina.”
Another taxi driver, Farid Shawky, wondered whether the days of people coveting taxis were drawing to an end.
“Before, if there is one taxi here, then you will have 100 people running for that taxi,” he said. “Yes, now it is easier to find a taxi. But if everyone goes on the bus and they do not come to us, then this is a problem.”
Mr Shawky hoped the popularity of the buses had peaked and that passengers were enticed only by the free fares until the end of the year.
The Department of Transport (DoT) plans to charge fares from the end of the year and to increase the number of routes to 21. Fares have not yet been decided. “Once they begin charging to ride the bus, I want to see many people going back to taxis because they are in a hurry,” Mr Shawky said.
The DoT plans to have buses making 2,000 trips a day on 21 routes on the island. By 2010, the department hopes to have 1,360 air-conditioned buses in the emirate.
Code proposed for rental properties
The capital’s rent law does not say a tenant must be notified before a broker shows a property to a prospective tenant, but some companies already seek permission
ABU DHABI - Jul 06: Estate agents and maintenance workers could soon be required to obtain permission to enter people’s homes under a new code of conduct being drawn up by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The capital’s rent law does not say a tenant must be notified before a broker shows a property to a prospective tenant. Neither does it specify that the occupant must be told their property will be inspected, nor if workers will be carrying out repairs.
Tenancy contracts also rarely list conditions for such visits. Such omissions potentially allow unrestricted access to people’s homes, raising security and privacy concerns in some quarters.
A senior official at the chamber of commerce, which regulates the real estate brokerage industry, said a reasonable notice period for third-party access to rented property might be included in the upcoming brokers’ code of conduct or in standardised tenancy contracts.
“Securing permission [from the tenant] is a logical requirement and is something we are considering either for the code of conduct or standardised tenancy contracts,” said Otaiba bin Saeed al Otaiba, the chairman of the chamber’s real estate committee.
Mr Otaiba declined to give further details about the code of conduct until it was published.
The new code of ethics may seek to mirror those in place in Europe and elsewhere.
In the UK, a code of conduct published by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents lists the conditions for access to property for viewings, inspections, surveys and maintenance.
These requirements are usually also written into tenancy contracts.
Agents arranging for a client to view a tenanted property must give the existing tenant “appropriate and reasonable notice as prescribed by law” of the appointment, unless other arrangements have been agreed with the tenant.
Tenants must be given written notice 24 hours before an appointment, which should be held at a reasonable time for both parties and can be awarded up to £25,000 (Dh182,000) if they suffer “aggravation, distress or inconvenience” as a result of a violation.
Only in an emergency, such as a water of gas leak, can a third party enter the property without permission.
Property brokerages say the issue of access to property is not serious in the UAE. Liz O’Connor, the head of leasing at Better Homes, said the company’s policy was to seek permission before entering a property. The length of notice depended on instructions they received from the tenant or property owner, she said.
“We don’t find that this is a very serious issue,” she said.
“If maintenance work is required, it’s generally requested by the tenant and they are, therefore, very accommodating regarding making time for this. With regards to viewings of properties, viewings for new tenants are generally only done either if a tenant is breaking a lease or if they are coming to the end of the lease.”
But tenants say the new ethics code would provide peace of mind. One expatriate woman said she returned home late one evening to find her lights on and suspected she had been burgled or, worse still, that someone was in the flat, but later realised an estate agent had been in her home.
“I was really worried when I got home as I knew that I hadn’t left the light on during the day,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.
“It was around 11.30pm when I got back and I didn’t want to go in alone.
“I was sure that someone was in there. After a while, we worked out that it must have been the agent taking someone around the flat.
“When I called them the next morning, they didn’t see anything wrong in what they’d done even though in the past, they’d always asked my permission when the maintenance guys went in.
“So they clearly knew the correct protocol when it suited them.
“I had really personal things lying around, which I’d never want strangers to see and I felt really violated. It was a total intrusion into my personal space.”
Scott Aitken, a consultant at the law firm Clyde and Co, said it was rare for a landlord or prospective tenants to visit a property without the knowledge of the current occupant. However, he said it did happen.
“I would hesitate to say that it’s the landlord’s right, but we hear of it,” he said. “There’s an uneasy match between the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment and the landlord’s right to be able to continue the tenancy beyond the life of the existing contract.
“There are no express words in the law about that.”
Dh250m swindle funds found
ABU DHABI - Jul 06: Prosecutors are urging victims of a multimillion-dirham con to register a claim to receive some of their money back after assets worth Dh250 million (US$68m) were seized from gang members.
In a swindle that came to be known as “the case of the non-existent wallet”, victims were promised a return of 30 to 40 per cent on money supposedly invested in various sectors, including property and cars.
The con men had no offices and conducted their “business” meetings in hotels. Post-dated cheques were issued to reassure investors, some of whom had taken out loans to raise the money they needed.
The prosecution of those responsible has already begun and assets worth millions have been seized from five key figures and 70 other defendants in the case.
Initially, it was announced that 2,500 people had been tricked out of a total of Dh400 million, but now the Abu Dhabi Judiciary says that the true figures will not be known until the case continues on Sept 4.
“Those who have a claim against the defendants are required to register their claims with the prosecutor’s office immediately as court proceedings have already begun,” said Sultan Saeed al Badi, under secretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.
“The prosecutor’s office has already received thousands of complaints from all emirates. All current and future claims against the defendants will be combined into a single case, for ease of prosecution.”
During the first week of the trial in the Court of First Instance, the Abu Dhabi prosecutor’s office, in co-operation with the police and the Central Bank, managed to seize assets worth Dh250m. A public auction will be held to liquidate the assets seized.
“The accounting system used by those prosecuted was all but non-existent, leaving even the defendants unsure of how much they took in and from how many individuals,” said Mr Badi. “A committee has been formed to determine how many were scammed and the amount involved.”
This had, he said, “been a most time-consuming case and each defendant will be prosecuted according to his own individual involvement”.
During the trial, AE Qublan, the chief defendant in the case, had been surprised to learn that many of the people who were working with him were also stealing from him, withdrawing money from his personal account.
A number of cases involving unlicensed, fraudulent investment companies and free agents have recently come before the courts. There was no epidemic threatening society, said Mr Badi, “but only a number of unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of others. Any involved in such schemes to defraud the general public have been, and will be, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
In June, a con man, identified as MFMB, was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a Dh50,000 fine. After serving his sentence, for a con trick similar to that of which Qublan and others are accused, promising investors a 70 per cent return on their investment, he will be deported.
Mr Badi is strongly advising would-be investors not to deal with individuals and to use banks and established licensed companies. He believes the promise of a quick profit, lack of confidence in the investments market and the rising price of gold have contributed to people investing with illegitimate and unlicensed companies.
Qublan and his fellow defendants had allegedly tricked thousands of victims by promising monthly profits of between 30 and 40 per cent.