Comforts from yesteryear

Dubai: About 30 years ago a fully furnished two-bedroom flat in Satwa would set you back Dh30,000 per year.

An advertisement in an issue of Gulf News in 1978 said a furnished flat - including 'imported furniture', curtains, crockery, cutlery and a full range of electrical appliances, but no air-conditioner - was renting out for Dh30,000.

In that same year, a Mr. R. Bishop advertised an unfurnished three-bedroom villa in Hamriya, with carpeting and curtains, a 'spacious dining and sitting area', a large fitted kitchen and a garden, for Dh47,000. If that was too steep, he was ready to listen to any 'reasonable offer'.

There were other villas for less rent in 'first-class European localities' in Dubai, according to the ads. And in Sharjah, a two-bedroom flat with a large hall and two full bathrooms in a 'choicest locality' was going for Dh15,000.

As you drive down Satwa Road today, the swank hotels and towering apartment and office blocks on Shaikh Zayed Road can be seen just a few blocks away.

As you enter Satwa today, you see a row of townhouses, similar to the ones you see in small industrial towns in Britain. On the right are the more conventional villas with colourful bougainvillaea creeping over the walls.

The rent for the villas and townhouses today range from Dh100,000 to Dh220,000.

But the word villa today also has different connotations for different people. For Rumana, who lives in a ramshackle one-room building in the centre of Satwa, her home is a 'villa'. She shares the large room with six other women who pay Dh700 per month each.

"This area is actually Jumeirah 1," she says. There are bunker beds in the room, and the women can use a cupboard for storing their clothes. They also have access to an open kitchen. In 'To let' advertisements today in the Gulf News, this is known as a 'bed space'.

Satwa today is a crowded place but people prefer to live here as it is still cheaper than Bur Dubai or Deira. "People like Satwa because there is no traffic here," says Abdul, who has advertised in the properties section of the Gulf News for one room with an attached bathroom for Dh2,500 per month. This works out to Dh30,000 per year, the same price as a two-bedroom fully furnished flat went for 30 years ago.

You can still get a two-bedroom flat (unfurnished) in Satwa today in a 25-year-old building, but there is no watchman or maintenance. Cigarette butts lie on the first-floor landing. A toilet seat has been discarded at the entrance, but people still rent rooms for Dh24,000.

"Satwa really started booming after real estate agencies took over the buildings from the 'poor' local landlords who were earlier charging peanuts", says a jewellery shopowner. His shop is on the ground floor of a two-decade-old dilapidated building. He is paying Dh60,000 for 170 square feet.

"Just walk a few steps ahead, the rent there is Dh100,000 for a similar space," said the Indian shopkeeper who did not wish to be named.

A few steps behind the front row shops are the 'villas', single-room housing. Nader Hussain from Bangladesh shares one such room with 12 of his compatriots.

They pay Dh3,500 per month for the accommodation, which works out to about Dh300 per person. There was a time when that rent could have secured a far higher standard of accommodation.

In quotes

After sending the children to school I grab a quick moment in the garden to read the paper and turn quickly to my favourite part, the Today page.
- Bonnie Morrell, A Gulf News reader

For the past two years I have been reading Gulf News, normally in my room after work. My favourite section is tabloid! I would like to see more news about Dubai in the paper.
- Gay Fabregas, A Gulf News reader

I have been reading Gulf News for the last 17 years at various times of the day or night. The vibrant sports pages are my favourite section as I am a keen follower of cricket.
- Michael Almeida, A Gulf News reader

We have been reading Gulf News online even before we arrived in Dubai more than four years ago. The Business and Nation sections are where we turn first in the morning during breakfast. We would like to see more reader interaction.
- Carol and Steve Fenton, Online readers