UAE | General

Late-night nightmare on The Palm

Irked residents want swift action to stop all-night piling and drilling

  • By Anjana Sankar, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 21:59 February 6, 2013
  • XPRESS

  • Image Credit: Clint Egbert/xpress
  • noise in the city: Late night construction at Palm Jumeirah is giving a headache to residents

Dubai: Late night drilling and piling works on the Palm Jumeirah are driving residents up the wall.

According to residents, construction started at the trunk of The Palm last August, and ever since they are having sleepless nights because of the deafening noise all night.

Annoyed residents told XPRESS that complaints to property developer Nakheel and the Dubai Municipality have not yielded results despite government regulations on late night construction.

Zoltan Bodnar, who pays Dh170,000 for his two-bedroom apartment in The Palm, said he can no longer endure the piling and hammering that goes on all night. “I and my wife are so fed up with the noise that we have decided to move out of the place if the authorities don’t do anything about this,” said Bodnar, who works at Dubai Media City.

The Hungarian couple moved in to their Shoreline apartment three years ago.

Headache from the start

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According to residents, Nakheel started building new villas on a peninsula between Shoreline buildings 6 and 7 last August. From the very beginning, this caused severe disturbances to the community, and complaints were lodged with both the developer and the Dubai Municipality but to no avail.

“The construction on The Palm Residences is 24/7 ongoing work. Unfortunately NAMI (Nakheel Asset Management Institution) have no control over the construction working hours.

"However the noise issue has been addressed to the project management team who will liaise with the contractor and revert back to us,” read an email sent by Nakheel to one of the complainants.

When XPRESS contacted Nakheel, they said the disturbance is temporary. “We sincerely apologise for the disturbance caused by the current piling work at Palm Residences. We would like to assure nearby residents that this disruption is temporary.”

However, residents including Bodnar said it took several months for Nakheel to even acknowledge their complaint. “I got an email communication from Nakheel after three months that too when I sent several reminders.”

Residents said they want authorities to take action, and halt construction at night.

Comments (5)

Your comments

  1. Added 12:44 February 7, 2013

    Why complain, there is constuction and other developments going around all over Dubai, you will have to bear up with it, the place where you are living at the moment too was constructed day and night, then you did not complain about nightmares, simple solution, why dont you just leave that place without complaining. I dont think you will find a place wihout any sound, If so you will be livng in a ghost town.

    Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 11:38 February 7, 2013

    I live in shoreline 1 and we also have the same problem outside, they have decided that beach needs extending! Last night they decided to continue working on the beach and were still going at 10 pm. This has been ongoing for almost a month. the noise is horrendous! They started working this morning before 6am . I am simply tired of this - had we known this construction was on the horizon we would have never moved in - our dream apartment and living space no longer exists and making our lives hell. I am also pregnant and this is causing unnecessary stress which I really do not need. I need more sleep at this time - not less! I also saw this article this morning on XPRESS in association with the additional construction which is taking place near by, I can completely relate to this and it seems many other residents are very unhappy. It is really upsetting and agonising that we do not know when and how this is going to be resolved. We have no idea how long the construction will continue for on the beach and the working hours are very unpredictable - and illegal. Firmer action needs to taken and DM have tried to help, but for some reason the message is not going through or Nakheel simply do not care about other peoples wellbeing. Is there any other department where this isasue can be raised? If anyone has any suggestions please raise on the comments board. Thanks A very tired and stressed Shoreline resident.

    Shoreline Resident, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 11:19 February 7, 2013

    I live in Frond A and I cant sleep, cant imagine living in the apartments next to the site.....

    Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 11:13 February 7, 2013

    Put them behind the bars for this act against Human Rights.

    Malang, Abu Dhbai, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 10:21 February 7, 2013

    I work in this project and i see that such noise level is in accordance with Dubai Municipality regulations till the moment.

    Anonymous, dubai, United Arab Emirates

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