Dubai: Residents of Al Furjan villa community, near Discovery Gardens, have urged developer Nakheel to beef up security following a spate of thefts and burglaries recently.
Over 100 residents have signed a petition detailing their concerns and are calling for increased security measures to curb robberies.
On December 23, Jumana Ejaz, an Al Furjan resident who is spearheading the campaign, along with others took the letter to the Nakheel office and discussed their grievances at length with them. “Security is a huge concern and residents don’t feel safe living in Al Furjan anymore,” Ejaz told XPRESS.
“We have had a series of thefts in homes as well as cars parked in the area. Something has to be done immediately or people may seek alternatives. Just last week, one family got their laptop, mobile phone and cash stolen from their car parked in the community.
“Another family was woken up in the middle of the night when they heard someone trying to open their door.
Luckily their dog started barking loudly and woke them up and also scared the thief away.” said Ejaz
“These things don’t happen in a posh residential community. Owners and tenants pay a price to live here and they surely deserve better security,” she added.
Over 800 villas make up the Al Furjan residential complex where around 500 homes are currently occupied. Rents vary from Dh140,000 to Dh300,000.
“There are only three security guards to look after such a large community. How can you expect such a skeleton team to function efficiently?” said Ejaz.
Some other demands raised by residents include preventing labourers from walking around freely in the area and raising parking barriers near the entrance to prevent unauthorised access.
A Nakheel spokesperson said: “Safety and security are paramount in our communities. We are working to raise the security in a number of ways in Al Furjan including increasing the number of security patrols on the ground. We are also working with authorities to turn Al Furjan into a gated community. Regarding road access into Al Furjan, Nakheel has awarded a Dh4 million contract to Al Wasit Roads Contracting to build four new road links between Al Furjan and E77 (Al Yalayis Road), which connects Dubai’s E311 (Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road) and E11 (Shaikh Zayed Road). Additional RTA main road links are planned.”
