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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Flushing out villa violators

By PMA RASHEED 
The Gulf Today, 23 July 2010 

Punitive actions have been imposed against as many as 4,387 incidents of breaching residential rules in Dubai in the first half of the year.
The Emirate has recorded numerous violations of building and construction regulations during the past six months in various parts of the city, revealed Dubai Municipality (DM).
A senior civic official of the Municipality said that utility services have been cut off to 1,654 residential premises, illegally occupied by multi-families. The disconnection of power and water supplies to the overcrowded villas has forced hundreds of residents to vacate their premises.
The civic body says that it has no option other than forcing the residents to vacate multi-occupied villas by disconnecting their electricity supply, as they continue to live in high-risk conditions posing safety threats.
Omar AbdulRahman, Head of Building Inspection Section at the DM said that about 40,707 villas have been inspected in the civic body's "One Villa One Family" drive.
"During the campaign to ensure compliance with the civic laws and legislation, the inspectors made surprise visits to the villas and various ranges of fines have been imposed on the offenders of the residential regulations," he added.
"The violations included accommodation of bachelors in areas designated for families, and single houses occupied by more than one family by illegally partitioning such premises," pointed out AbdulRahman.
According to him, other violations ranged from additions to the buildings without the Municipality permits, and the exploitation of houses for purposes other than those allocated to them.
"Some people created multiple partitions within rooms to house more occupants. In some premises, 10 to 15 single men were accommodated in small partitioned rooms. Some even lived on rooftops or under staircases. Some families were found sharing with single men," he elaborated.
"The municipal services were cut off for the breaching houses, after issuance of many warnings to correct their violations," he pointed out.
"Repetition of the violations and non-compliance even after the warnings prompted the DM to disconnect power and water connections to such houses with the support of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)," elaborated AbdulRahman.
Since the beginning of this month, the civic inspectors have been focusing Al Jafiliya area and have severed the utility supplies to several overcrowded villas.
Khalid Salem Selaiteen, Head of the Environmental Emergency Office at the DM, had earlier said that many people moved out after their power supply was detached, while several others in the area vacated fearing the disconnection of electricity in the scorching summer.
He added that cranes were used to remove the huge generators being used in some villa compounds, while police escorted municipal workers in the raids to villas housing a high number of tenants.
The Municipality also focused eviction of overcrowded villas in Rashidiya and Mankhool areas, after issuance of several notices to the residents.

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