Abu Dhabi beach is a blight that's getting worse

Al Dhafra beach should be an ideal place for families living nearby to escape the summer heat. Instead it remains a waste tip with growing amounts of rubbish dumped there, often secretly at night by vehicles with their lights turned off.

In February, local residents contacted Gulf News to highlight the parlous state of the beach. Abu Dhabi Municipality promised to investigate and take action.

Six months later, no action has been taken. In fact, the problem has become worse with residents claiming that the mounting piles of rubbish are not only a health hazard but are also polluting the sea and killing marine animals.

Rosita Vidal, a nearby resident from Ecuador whose home overlooks the beach, has lost hope of anything being done to the extent that she could not believe that Gulf News was knocking on her door again.

"Seriously, is there someone who cares? I am really impressed, but do you think any change will take place?" Vidal, who was very keen to bring the situation to the public's attention for a second time, said, "Workers who dig up the main road come and throw the debris on the beach.

"Even when the plants and trees growing wild in the area are trimmed by the municipality, the cut branches are left on the beach in front of our homes." Vidal said she had contacted municipal officials many times over the sitiuation but had now lost hope of anything being done.

"I have contacted them many times and they have done nothing. I even offered to pay for the cleaning process but the municipality workers refused. What else can I do? "We pay a lot of money in rent to live here and to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sea but, instead, we only see rubbish.

"I am sorry to say that even some neighbours come to throw their garbage in front of the villas. It seems they all think now that the area is a rubbish tip." Nearby live the O'Neills. "I have stopped opening the windows in the direction of the sea. I don't want to see this terrible sight," Mrs O'Neill said.

A Scottish woman who has been living in the area for 14 years believes the fact that the beach is being used as a rubbish tip has led to a general impression that the entire district is run down.

On top of that, there are security concerns. Strangers wander about after dark and there are fears for the safety of children. "We have complained to the police several times but no action has been taken. It seems no one is interested in the area, and the municipality is doing nothing at all," she said.

Similar voices were raised in February when the residents started filing complaints with the municipality, about the large amounts of garbage and debris dumped in front of their villas.
At that time Randa H. told of trucks with lights off arriving in the middle of the night to dump various kinds and amounts of rubbish.

"A year and a half ago, my neighbours and I noticed small amounts of building material being thrown on the beach in the middle of the night. "Gradually the rubbish accumulated until the whole beach was covered and our area had been turned into a garbage dump," she noted.

According to Randa, the smell from dead animals and fish mixed in with the garbage was unbearable. When asked six months ago about resolving the problem, the public health department official at Abu Dhabi municipality promised to investigate the matter. But so far nothing has been done to rectify the problem.

And despite a request for comment on the present situation no one at Abu Dhabi Municipality was available for comment this week.

The civic authority's public relations section said it was not able to respond to questions on the state of Al Dhafra beach unless they were submitted in writing in Arabic. "The letter will then be forwarded to the responsible official for a reply," an official at the public relations section said.