Dubai: New security restrictions placed at the Jumeirah Village Triangle (JVT) community are requesting non-residents to show documentation at the gate.
The move by developers Nakheel has caused crowds of workers, including gardeners, house cleaners, laundry delivery workers, and labourers to gather at the JVT security gates every morning.
Nakheel confirmed that third party contractors must show documentation, including an Emirates ID, a trade licence, and a letter from the property owner they are visiting for security reasons.
“The security and well-being of residents is our top priority. For this reason, third party contractors are required to produce the appropriate documents and identification upon entering the community,” said a Nakheel spokesperson.
The same regulations also apply to other gated communities, including Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Islands, and Al Furjan.
While security remains a priority for JVT residents, many have expressed concern about the tedious process of stopping guests and service workers at the gate on a daily basis.
Karim M., a JVT resident, told Gulf News he feels that process of distinguishing between non-residents and residents is “extremely discriminatory”.
“Security have no right by law to keep an Emirates ID in their possession. [the practice is] not in the best interests of securing the neighbourhood,” said Karim.
Having lived in the UAE for 20 years, K.M said security should focus on other methods to keep the community safe. “It’s not that we’re unsafe because, thankfully, the UAE is a safe country. But in an ideal gated community, the security should be able to be first respondents to an emergency until ambulance/police can arrive. They should also be able to reduce petty theft occurrences, and crack down on soliciting and loitering,” he said.
Myriam W., another JVT resident, said her house cleaner who comes by once a week has faced issues at the gate. “They often make trouble for our cleaner because she has no access card. So we applied, but the application has not been processed for weeks now,” she said.
JVT resident S.D. also pointed out that most residents have applied for access cards to the community months and even years ago and have not yet received them.
“We have applied twice for our cards and had no response whatsoever. With schools being built, I wonder how the gates will function with the traffic flow of kids, buses, taxis, as well as residents,” she said.
Just the same, British resident Andrea Quinn said she has been waiting for her access card for over a year. “It would be great if they could actually provide us with the access cards we have all applied for years ago at their insistence, but which none of us have received. I’ve yet to even receive a reply to my emails,” she said.
Residents also expressed their frustrations on social media, listing several incidents where their cars were unable to be delivered to their homes by their car service providers because they were stopped by security at the gate.
