Summary: Municipal decisions in the UAE, like the Abu Dhabi villa demolitions, are taken and enforced with ridiculously commendable speed but such hastiness can also inconvenience many residents.
Love UAE as we may, what wouldn't Kipp give for some better urban planning? Take for instance the small patch of pavement in front of Kipp's quarters that has been dug up and repaved more than three times in a month not long ago. The first group came to lay cables for the internet, the next for electricity and the last, well, we are not quite sure. Needless to say, what could have been a joint effort from all government owned agencies caused much disturbance to residents and cost Kipp much needed sleep, not to mention the costs of digging up the same area three times.
But what has happened to cause Kipp to grumble in such an uncharacteristically Kipp way? The villa demolitions in Abu Dhabi, of course.
The National reports on Abu Dhabi municipality's most recent crackdown on illegal partitions in villas. It also reported on how it is often only the villa owner who is informed by the municipality of the building violations and not the tenants: so that often when the municipality comes to demolish the illegal partitions and cut the power (which is what they do in the event of a violations) tenants are literally left in the dark.
The tenants of an eight-flat villa near 25th Street and Muroor Road told The National that they had found a notice stating that the electricity would be turned off that very night, and within a week the municipality had torn down all of the partitions and the residents were forced to leave.
Of course the Abu Dhabi government is completely justified in cracking down on unhygienic and unsafe accommodation in the city and Kipp is glad they do it. What Kipp wants to understand is the rather abrupt haphazard manner of executing plans.
It is ironical, that while people in other countries usual complaints their municipalities are far too slowly and far too bureaucratically, in the UAE it is the exact opposite.
Municipal decisions are taken, at what seems to the casual observer, rather randomly enforced with ridiculous speed--which is excellent, when you think of the flower beds and rock gardens they create in an instant and maintain all year round, but not quite as excellent when you consider the hoards of people left looking for a roof over the heads due to their hastiness.
Some of these villas being torn apart are home to paying families with children and pets. Giving them sufficient forewarning of their impending eviction is only fair. Or what about providing these residents with alternate arrangements, for instance providing them with accommodation in a building complex with comparable rents?
Kipp understands that the UAE is a young country and that the kind of planning and organisation we are calling for needs some time. Frankly, though, it just seems to Kipp that if the country wants to be the epitome of modernity and sophistication, jumping the gun (even when you are in the right) and falling back on hindsight all the time may not be the best way to go about achieving this.
What is frustrating about this case is that the issue could have been dealt with in a much more meticulous manner: step one ensure all villa residents are aware of this new law, step two issue notices to the tenants themselves with at least a six-month grace period to find an alternate arrangement; step three ensure tenants get the money they have paid the landlord upfront for their accommodation--Kipp could go on, but we won't. All we will say is that we dearly hope the municipality seriously consider suggestions like these to take their already commendable contribution to society to the next level.
2011 Dubai Business | Kippreport. All Rights Reserved.
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