SOURCE ; THE NATIONAL

 
Municipality to tear down dangerous rooftop flats

Abu Dhabi Municipality has recently launched a campaign targeting rooftop residents. Residents pay AED 150 - 200 monthly to live in rooms on the rooftop and argue that they cannot afford to live anywhere else in Abu Dhabi because rent is so high - The National

ABU DHABI - MAY 24: A summer campaign is being launched to dismantle a hidden city on the rooftops of the capital. But many of the people living in the cheap rooms are saying that they have nowhere else to go.

Owners of about 200 buildings were recently served with warnings. Only 76 owners complied by removing the unlicensed construction.

A dozen buildings are still being monitored; 111 offenders will be taken to court for failing to fix the problems.

More notices are to come, according to the municipality, which aims to enhance the capital’s image and improve environmental health and safety.

Measures to “rid the city of all forms of distortion” such as rooftop shanties will extend to areas where they are “quite rampant” such as Al Bateen and Hadbat al Zafranah, said Owaidah al Qubaisi, the acting executive director of municipal services.

Regular inspections are planned for both neighbourhoods.

It is not good news for the people who live on the rooftops. ND Kawsar’s makeshift dwelling, which he shares with 20 other bachelors, is no penthouse.

Broken satellite dishes, sacks of rubbish and laundry lines roast under the sun outside his door. Inside, exposed wires droop from his ceiling. There are no fire-safety devices, nor is there any means of escape other than a stairwell wide enough for a single-file exit.

 “No safety. The level of danger is high. We cannot take a fire,” said Mr Kawsar, 27, a typist.

“But where can we go? Abu Dhabi is expensive. The good flats are only for families.”

Mr Kawsar, who lives in Hadbat al Zafranah, blamed the shortage of affordable housing in the city as the real issue forcing residents such as himself to cheap and unlicensed rooftop flats.

“We are working in small shops, restaurants, some for construction companies,” he said. “It’s so difficult for us. If the baladiyah (municipality) close the room, where [do] I go? Sleep in the road?”

On a salary under Dh2,000 (US$545) per month, his Dh450-a-month accommodation above the weathered three-storey building overlooking Al Saada Street is all he can afford. The landlord plans to raise his rent by Dh50 next month, he added.

“If we are taking a new building, we are paying maybe more than Dh1,000. How we will pay?” he asked. “If the baladiyah want to close, first they have to increase our salary. Money is the problem.”

Down Airport Road, Ummary Hossain agreed high housing costs gave her and her husband little choice but to share their rooftop quarters with another Bangladeshi couple. One kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom were enough for four adults, said Mrs Hossain, 25. But her main concern was the risk of an electrical fire sparking from a tangle of wires and satellite dishes just metres away from her doorstep.

“This is very unsafe for fire,” she said, adding that the rent for the flat was Dh4,000 a month. “For one year, this is not cheap. But rooftop is cheaper than other rooms.”

The couple want to start a family, but they decided their living conditions were unfit for raising children. After nine months there, they will leave in September because the building is to be demolished, Mrs Hossain said.

Infestation and fires are major concerns. Helicopters had to airlift a young girl and two adults to safety in August 2008 after a fire broke out in a rooftop shanty atop a 16-storey apartment block on Airport Road.

A reporter revisited the four rooftop dwellings last week at the Fathima Supermarket. Mukundan K, a construction worker from Kerala living there, was aware of the previous fire, but was not worried as long as he had a place to live. He said four workers shared each flat.

The municipality urged owners of villas and buildings to co-operate with authorities, blaming “investors who only care about making windfall gains” for putting people’s lives at risk by renting out ramshackle rooms.

Mr al Qubaisi said other major offences reported included the unauthorised building of room partitions, leasing villas to more than one family, and improper linking of plumbing or electrical lines.

Offenders who fail to respond to the municipality’s warnings after a grace period will be taken to court and fined. The removal of the dwellings will also be at the cost of the offender.

The municipality did not specify the fines or lengths of the grace periods.

Midday break grows longer by a month


DUBAI - MAY24: The midday break will be extended by one month, meaning all outdoor work must stop between 12.30pm and 3pm for three months starting June 15, officials said yesterday.

Saqr Ghobash, the Minister of Labour, said in a statement that the decision derives from the ministry’s determination to protect workers’ rights without sacrificing those of employers.

The midday break aims to give workers across the UAE a respite from the soaring heat during the hottest period of the day during summer. The break was first implemented in 2005 and workers were given a break from 12.30-4pm during July and August. It was shortened the next year by one hour, and since then no change had been made before yesterday’s decree.

The rule mainly affect construction workers, who make up more than 45 per cent of the more than four million workers in the private sector.

The adjustment in the rule would stipulate that the midday break would be enforced until September 15, which would include Ramadan. The rule also stipulates that there must be a shaded rest place for workers during the break.

The ministry has imposed penalties on companies that do not adhere to the rule.

√ For a first offence, the employer is fined Dh10,000 (US$2,700) and is banned from obtaining new labour permits for three months.

√ For a second offence, the punishment is doubled to a Dh20,000 fine and a six-month ban on permits.

√ For a third offence, the company is fined Dh30,000 and is barred from obtaining new work permits for one year.

This year the ministry has set up 18 inspection teams, which will work in all seven emirates to catch violators.

However, the ministry may grant emergency exemptions.

Humaid Bin Deemas, the ministry’s acting director-general, said, “The ministry is going to guarantee the implementation of the rule through the increase of the number of the ministry’s inspectors.”

Mr Ghobash said he is expecting a high level of compliance among employers this year because of the increasing awareness of their responsibility towards their workers.

Last year the ministry fined more than 650 companies for not adhering to the rule, but the overall commitment rate among companies reached 99 per cent, according to ministry of labour statistics.

Ahmed Saif bel Hasa, the chairman of the UAE contracting association, welcomed the move and said the extension of the midday break as well as consulting with the construction sector before implementing the decision show the ministry’s commitment to all stakeholders.

Reporter charged with taking illegal pictures

ABU DHABI - MAY 24: A reporter for a Dubai Arabic-language newspaper who took photographs of a man threatening to jump from the top of a water tank appeared in court yesterday charged with taking unauthorised pictures of a crime scene.

The journalist, IK, was accused at the Abu Dhabi Court of Misdemeanours of taking photographs without permission, not responding to orders from police and working as a journalist while her visa did not state that. Her newspaper confirmed she was a reporter but said her residency documents were being processed.

IK visited the federal Attorney General’s compound at Al Khubairat Palace on March 21, and, from a window, saw a man standing and shouting from the top of a palace water tank.

The Bangladeshi man was threatening to jump, claiming his employer had not paid his salary for months. The man, who eventually climbed down safely, worked in Sharjah and was protesting to the Attorney General his employer was holding his passport.

IK said she took a picture of the man using her mobile phone and added that when she was approached by a police officer, she offered to let him delete the pictures, which he did. Police said IK then took more photographs, and said she admitted returning to the scene to do so. IK denied this.

The judge adjourned the case until June 10 for a verdict.

Taxi drivers rue the opening of 10 new Metro stations
 
DUBAI - MAY 24: Taxi drivers say their earnings have taken a drop despite working twice as hard as more commuters choose the Metro for long journeys after the opening of 10 new stations.

Some drivers said reduced earnings have forced them to look for other jobs, saying they are no longer able to support their families.

“Every day is tense for me,” said Ali Ahmed, a Pakistani driver who has worked in Dubai for the past 10 years. “I worry, ‘Will I get business or not?’ Now, even to make Dh200 [per day] is difficult because people no longer want to travel to Deira by taxi. They want me to take them to a Metro station instead.”

Mr Ahmed said he earned an average of Dh350 per day last year, before the Metro opened and sent a large chunk of that amount home to help educate his three children and care for his parents.

“I can send very little home now and I must earn enough money for my family,” he said. “I am looking for work as a private driver. At least that will be a steady income. Some of my friends are doing the same.”

Officials at the Roads and Transport Authority, which regulates taxi services in Dubai, did not respond to requests for comment.

The expansion of the Metro has been cited by several long-term taxi users as making it easier and cheaper to get around, reducing their need for using the roads.

Oxana Rudiva, a 27-year-old marketing co-ordinator from Russia, said she was saving a significant amount of money because her daily long-distance taxi journeys have been drastically reduced.