SHARJAH: Two half-built parking buildings in Sharjah have become rubbish dumps attracting pests, nearby tenants have complained.
The multi-storey paid parking projects, left unfinished for years in Al Majaz and Al Wahda, are strewn with condom packets, empty alcohol bottles, discarded underwear, plastic bottles and garbage bags.
The waste rotting in the high summer heat and humidity is attracting vermin and insects that infiltrate nearby buildings, tenants said. They added that city officials should have the site cleaned or have the project scrapped.
“It stinks, I’ve had rat and insect problems in my flat,” said Khurram Awan, a tenant of Building 220 on Al Wahda road.
“People just toss their garbage over the parking building’s fence instead of walking to the dedicated trash bins, which are right outside the site.
“The place needs cleaning or it will get worse. Some people are abusing the site as a dump. But it’s even better for us if authorities knock it down. It’s too close to our building, there’s no room for emergency services if there’s a fire.
“Also, it has blocked out the view and sunlight. And it’s making it easy for anyone who wants to burglarise our flats – you can jump across from it onto our balconies,” said Awan.
Tenant Shiraz Ahmad said: “When the project works were on, there was noise, dust and zero privacy because of the workers right outside our windows. Today it’s the garbage and pests.”
However, a man guarding the site said there were no rats and that some of the trash was coming from Building 220.
“Sometimes it’s a passer-by; sometimes it’s a tenant who’s throwing trash over. Once people start getting fines for littering here, the trash will stop. Whatever’s left needs to be cleaned up, but since there’s no construction going on, no one is taking it too seriously,” the man said on condition of anonymity.
“We used to enjoy free parking where this project is located. Now, ironically, there’s no parking – free or paid – at that location because of this stalled project,” said an Al Majaz resident.
The car parks are among similar projects that were coming up in Sharjah before suffering delays. In 2008, officials had announced that 40 multi-storey car parks would eventually be built in crowded neighbourhoods starved of parking space.
At least three car parks are being built on plots previously used as free parking spaces. They remain unfinished, even though municipality officials said in 2010 that those buildings were almost ready.
It is not clear what is holding the projects back. Sharjah Municipality could not be reached for comment.
The car parks apparently have, or once had, the same contractor, according to project information boards at their construction sites.
The under-construction Abu Shagara parking project collapsed in 2009, injuring several workers. A subsequent investigation traced the collapse to an architectural error. The mess has long been cleared up, but there is also no indication of any construction work there.
