Dubai: Some residents of the Garden View Villas community have complained that groups of teenagers have been frequenting abandoned villas in their neighbourhood for parties, putting their own lives at risk as the villas where the youths converge are structurally unsound and have long been due for demolition.
At least a dozen homes in Garden View Villas, just after The Gardens community in Jebel Ali, have been lying unoccupied for almost a decade. Residents said that many of the abandoned villas have no barricades or safety fences, leaving them open to anyone, including some youngsters frequenting the area looking for a place to keep up with their merrymaking undetected.
Pia Ault, a resident since 2012, said she and some neighbours had communicated with Nakheel for six months to request a timeline on when the empty homes would actually be demolished.
One twin villa in front of Ault’s home has been sitting unoccupied for the past five years because of issues with its foundation. The family living in the villa adjacent to it had to vacate their house in September because it developed a crack all of a sudden.
When demolition crews came to empty the villas and take down unsafe sections of them three weeks ago, they left shattered glass scattered everywhere.
“Without informing us, they started smashing glass windows, and shards of glass went everywhere, in the neighbour’s garden, on the children’s trampoline. When security came to check their permits and they had nothing to show, they left the house as is, its doors detached,” Ault told Gulf News.
The Danish expatriate said she is grateful to Nakheel for installing speedbumps on the main road, which residents requested earlier and were granted immediately. But she is afraid that the abandoned homes are an accident waiting to happen.
“Last week we had about 20 teenagers who were partying there. They were on the second floor, yelling, screaming, taking selfies up on the balconies and we then called security to tell them it’s not safe. They’re not bad kids, they’re just being teenagers,” Ault said.
During Gulf News’ visit on Sunday, the twin villas had no safety gates to stop people, young or old, from entering the property. There were fixtures hanging from the ceiling, steel bars protruding from the stairs, open sewers, exposed nails, open electric sockets, even a rotting animal, among others.
On the next road, at least a dozen abandoned homes had corrugated fences but some sections of the fences had been removed. Inside, cracks on the walls were visible and disturbing graffiti indicated that it young people had been there very recently. Other areas in the neighbourhood face safety issues such as open manholes.
“I was walking my dog one night and there was a hole on the ground. They took the cover and did not put it back. I complained and it took three days for them to close it. Anyone could easily fall down the hole and break his leg,” said an American resident.
“On my street alone, there are four villas that are empty that have no corrugated fence, no front doors, nothing.”
Based on residents’ count, there are 20 to 40 such villas that are waiting to be demolished.
Another resident, who requested anonymity, said: “We don’t feel safe. One after the other, the houses are becoming empty because the quality of life has deteriorated here. We also don’t have security gates; anyone can just come in and out without being checked.”
Gulf News contacted Trakhees, the government agency that regulates and enforces health and safety rules in free zone areas including Nakheel properties, but received no response at the time of going to press.
Response from the management of Nakheel:
“Demolition of 56 villas at Garden View Villas will begin in April 2017 and be completed in around three months. Our contractor is in the process of erecting safety barriers and warning signs around the villas to be knocked down.
“Security personnel patrol the area 24 hours a day and, while they make every effort to prevent unauthorised access, parents are also encouraged to remind children to keep away from the demolition site.
“Reconstruction of the villas will begin in due course.”
