A losing battle

The water movement in Dubai Marina is very sluggish so there tends to be unsightly collections of rubbish.

Fallen leaves from the landscaping are part of it but the majority is thanks to people, inevitably, doing the wrong thing - plastic bags, plastic bottles, drink cans, paper.

Trying to clean it up doesn't involve anything high-tech, just a guy on a flat-bed boat with a net on the end of a pole.



The rubbish wins.

Another steady job...

I began my post on Sunday with "There are a number of people who have steady jobs in Dubai, like the guys who have small domestic brooms to sweep the sand back."

I spotted this one this morning:



He had plenty to do after the couple of windy days we've had.

He has to work with less than hi-tech equipment too - a domestic broom, a dustpan & brush, a black plastic bag.

A steady job

There are a number of people who have steady jobs in Dubai, like the guys who have small domestic brooms to sweep the sand back.

I came across another one in Dubai Marina.

There are seven or eight kilometres of railing, a man, a bucket and a rag...



All on his own he was doing a good job.

Wipe the rag over the railing for several metres, walk back to get the bucket of water, take it a few metres further on, walk back and wipe the rag over the railing, walk back to get the bucket of water, take it a few metres further on........

Cleaning up Dubai Marina

In the past I've complained several times about the lack of street cleaning in Dubai Marina. The main road and area around Marina Walk in Phase 1 were done but in spite of dozens of towers being finished and thousands of people moving in, the rest of the streets were simply left in a filthy state.

I complained not only on here but to Emaar, who sent their contractor out to assess the situation, after which nothing changed.

Well now it has changed, so I shouild comment on that.

At long, long last, the general paving of footpaths and roundabouts is being done - all subject to being constantly dug up again of course - and street cleaning is happening alongside it.

We have an enclosed sweeper truck doing the rounds...



...so much better than that open truck that throws up more dust than it collects.

And we have dozens of sweepers with simple domestic brooms, dustpan & brush and black plastic bags.

Not high tech but they do a great job.

The clean-up.

After the gales a couple of days ago the work gangs are out cleaning up the mess, including some of the newly-planted date palms that took a bit of a battering. Quite a few had to be straightened. I noticed a few of the established palms had snapped off just below the fronds too, so the gusts must have been even stronger than I thought.



I was reminded of something I've talked about before too - nothing but a red flag to protect cleaners on Dubai's dangerous roads...



That really needs looking into.

Street cleaning, or the lack of...

A small item in the papers caught my eye. It's headed 'Campaign to clean roads launched' and says the RTA launched a drive to clean up, for Eid, roads, pedestrian crossings, bridges, tunnels and pavements. The campaign includes repairing, painting, washing & cleaning road facilities throughout Dubai.

Dubai Marina is obviously not a part of Dubai. Today it looks like this:







I've complained about this in the past, in fact a year ago. Emaar said it's the responsibility of construction companies to keep their area clean. Since then there's been a broom-man on each site trying to sweep, with a normal domestic broom, the sand back from the road.

But there are now many finished buildings with people living in them. There are no broom-men at those sites. And there are common areas such as roundabouts for which construction companies obviously can't be responsible.

But no-one is cleaning these finished areas, so the sand and rubbish just keeps building up.

I think we've established that the new areas such as Dubai Marina are, amazingly, outside the responsibility of the Municipality. I wonder whether the RTA has any authority or is it all down to the Master Developer?

More e-mails to Emaar are in order I think...

High-tech it ain't...

...but at least they're doing it.

Let me remind you of my earlier posts about the lack of street cleaning in Dubai Marina, the breakthrough of Emaar taking notice of what I'd said and telling me "Cleaning has been arranged and warning letters are being sent to construction companies."

Well folks, the warning letters obviously were sent, a couple of the building companies did take notice and...



I know, I know. It's hardly cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, world-beating, high-tech. It's just a broom and a shovel. But it's actually working. Parts of some of the streets are cleaner. Around a couple of construction sites. Several others haven't got around to it yet. Maybe they don't have the necessary equipment in their inventory.

And the streets around the completed buildings haven't been touched. The general street cleaning, which I assume should be on a regular basis, simply isn't being done. At all.

I'll have to get back to the very helpful Lilia DeSouza from Emaar's Customer Care Department about that.

Breakthrough!

An update on yesterday's update.

Emaar Customer Care Department have been back to me again- take a bow Lilia DeSouza. If only everyone was as efficient...

Apparently Community Co-ordinators and Hyder Consulting "who are in charge of monitoring the area" have been 'on site'.

Cleaning has been arranged and warning letters are being sent to construction companies.

I think I might consider before & after photos...

The usual mixture.

Just an update on my earlier postings about the lack of street cleaning in Dubai Marina.

I contacted Dubai Municipality and Emaar to find out who is responsible, with mixed results - as we expect in Dubai.

It's no surprise I'm sure that Dubai Municipality have not responded.

Emaar Customer Care Department responded immediately, saying that my enquiry had been passed on to the Community Management Department and a representative would contact me with the information.

A week later a representative had not contacted me so I re-sent the message to Customer Care. Again they responded immediately with a 'sincere apology' for the delay and saying my question had again been sent to Community Management. It's taken twelve days so far.

Mind you, it was a tricky question: "Who is responsible for street cleaning in Dubai Marina? Dubai Municipality, Emaar as Master Developer, individual developers or individual contractors? A real hot potato. You can imagine the scramble to duck for cover, pass it on, refer to higher authority, get authorisation for the draft answer...

So, top marks to Emaar Customer Care Department. Wouldn't it be nice if the other people and departments we have to constantly deal with were as efficient.

Dream on.

Oh, meanwhile the garbage, the builders' rubbish, the piles of blown sand continue to deface one of Dubai's alleged most prestigious developments.

Simply not acceptable.

A few days ago I wrote about the lack of street cleaning in Dubai Marina, at the Jebel Ali end.

It's actually now much worse because several sites are pumping concrete so there's a never-ending stream of heavy tucks.

That's not a problem, it's what you expect around construction sites.

BUT...you also expect that the mess will be cleared up. And that's the problem, there is no street cleaning. In the area I'm referring to there are as many occupied buildings as construction sites. People live there. There are shops and offices. It's a community.


Three buildings across the roundabout are occupied. So is the one to the right of the car and two behind the photographer. Hundreds of residents have to fight this disgraceful situation every day.

The roads are even more dangerous than normal because there are piles of stones, sand, concrete, garbage all over them. Clouds of dust billow around, stones & gravel are kicked up whenever a vehicle passes. Sand is piled against the kerbs all around. Food and drink containers are blowing around.

This in one of Dubai's showcase prestige projects, yet it looks Third World.

Who is responsible? Somebody has to be, surely.

I've had no reply from the Municipality. A major developer tells me that it's Emaar's responsibility. Emaar's Customer Care Dept. tell me that someone from their Community Management Dept. will be contacting me.

Meanwhile, the problem builds.

The buck stops where?

I know the answer is going to be ‘not us’.

The question? Who is responsible for street cleaning in Dubai Marina?

At the Jebel Ali end where there is a huge amount of construction there are also several buildings complete and occupied plus shops and cafes. A residential population.

There is also a huge amount of general rubbish, builders’ rubbish, stones, sand and cement dust all over the streets. The basic community service of street cleaning does not exist.






Dangerous, unsightly, unhealthy, unnecessary. Filthy streets. In one of Dubai’s new prestige projects.

It simply is not good enough.

Now whether it’s the responsibility of the Municipality, Emaar the Master Developer, individual developers or the individual contractors I have no idea. My guess is that each will say it’s the responsibility of one of the others.

I’ve written to the Municipality and Emaar…