During Friday afternoons — or for that matter on any working day — the connecting road between Hamdan Street and Electra Street, next to the money exchange centres and jewellery shops, is extremely busy.
The thoroughfare is usually crowded with workers and residents from city suburbs who come by for their weekly shopping. The area is surrounded by many high-rise buildings, shops and furnished apartments. In one particular stretch, construction work on a high-rise building has encroached onto a flank of the road, resulting in hardly any space for cars to pass through without posing an obvious safety hazard for pedestrians.
Additionally, there are around eight garbage bins lining this stretch of road and they are invariably overflowing with trash. Trash bags are often dumped on the sides of the bins. This leads to stray cats prowling around the area, not to mention the horrible stench of scattered garbage.
The lack of maintenance and the generally bad condition of the area makes it extremely difficult for pedestrians to pass by the garbage bins though they have no choice given the limited space for movement.
The shrubs and trees behind the row of garbage bins besides the dark surroundings also offers cover for some people to relieve themselves in the open. All this has resulted in the spot becoming one of the filthiest places within Abu Dhabi.
I had highlighted this issue through a community report in Gulf News in the month of May, 2009. However, the authorities have done scant little to address the situation in the meanwhile.
I urge the authorities to initiate the following measures:
• Arrange for chlorine dusting near the bins to sanitise the area
• Clear the shrubbery and the clump of trees in order to improve visibility
• Provide necessary lighting near the bins so that people don't relieve themselves in the open.
• Initiate more frequent clearing of garbage bins in this area.
• Install a portable toilet somewhere close by for the benefit of visitors who frequent this area.
The reader is a technical officer, based in Abu Dhabi.
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