Cracked, sinking and abandoned, Dubai villas to be levelled for new housing



DUBAI // Villas that have stood empty for more than a decade will finally be demolished to make way for new housing.

About 56 houses in Jebel Ali will be knocked down, said developer Nakheel, with many having fallen into disrepair since their completion in 2003.

Families moved into the properties at Garden View Villas 14 years ago but many quickly moved out after cracks appeared in walls and questions were raised about the build quality.

As recently as last year, families continue to be removed from villas with what Nakheel called issues of “structural settlement”.

The development is significant as it was among the first in Dubai to offer title deeds to expat buyers, shortly after laws changed to allow foreigners to own property in the early 2000s.

Originally, three- and four-bedroom homes in the 208-villa development went on the market for about Dh1.5 million

Nakheel this week said demolition will begin this month and that reconstruction would “begin in due course”.

Residents said they are tired of living in what feels like a “war zone”.

Jan Webber has been in the neighbourhood since 2012 but last year she was told her family must leave their villa because of what Nakheel this week described as “structural settlement”.

The house hit with cracks and subsidence — the gradual caving in or sinking of an area of land — the family was forced to move at their own cost, in excess of Dh13,000, to a property nearby.

They had been living next door to a derelict villa, kept awake at night by doors banging in the wind and by young people making trouble. She and her husband got up in the night and wired the doors shut.

“We got fed up with the vermin of the villa next door, the banging doors, the kids going in and trashing it … it was embarrassing when visitors came,” she said.

The family had to delay their summer holiday and spend money on having the new villa cleaned, decorated and re-landscaped. They initially returned to sleep in the old villa as there was no air conditioning in the new home when they moved in last July.

On Mrs Webber’s street alone, half the villas are derelict.

“It’s a shame as when we first moved in it was lovely. It was safe and quiet. I feel that it’s been forgotten,” she said. “I was trying for two-and-a-half years to get a villa here and now nobody wants them. It’s very sad. Some lovely people live here.”

Yasar Khan, a resident since last June, said living around the dilapidated villas is far from ideal.

“The abandoned villas frighten the small kids,” he said.

“My daughter and her friends say some houses are haunted. Other than that, it’s a safety and security threat and an absolute eyesore to one of the most beautiful areas in town.”

Pia Ault has been in Garden View Villas for five years.

“So many residents are moving out. The rent is high and service is terrible,” she said. “They can’t get new people to come in.

“They offered our neighbour two free months when they moved in January but they still couldn’t afford the monthly rent, so moved to Jebel Ali Village.”

She said there is much to be done, including security gates, better landscaping, and doing something with the empty villas.

“Make it look like a finished neighbourhood, not a construction zone,” she said.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said she no longer allows her two children to play in the street.

“Every time my son plays football, the ball goes into the derelict area and it’s very dangerous, so I just don’t allow them to play there any more. Kids are curious and they want explore so it’s very hard to stop them going into these areas unless you’re with them the whole time.”

She said in the three years she has been there, much has changed.

“I didn’t imagine that three years later it would still be like this. The security is poor, more people are leaving, and it’s still very expensive. We pay Dh165k plus another Dh8,000 to be here and this is our view.”

mswan@thenational.ae

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

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Types of policy

Term life insurance: this is the cheapest and most-popular form of life cover. You pay a regular monthly premium for a pre-agreed period, typically anything between five and 25 years, or possibly longer. If you die within that time, the policy will pay a cash lump sum, which is typically tax-free even outside the UAE. If you die after the policy ends, you do not get anything in return. There is no cash-in value at any time. Once you stop paying premiums, cover stops.

Whole-of-life insurance: as its name suggests, this type of life cover is designed to run for the rest of your life. You pay regular monthly premiums and in return, get a guaranteed cash lump sum whenever you die. As a result, premiums are typically much higher than one term life insurance, although they do not usually increase with age. In some cases, you have to keep up premiums for as long as you live, although there may be a cut-off period, say, at age 80 but it can go as high as 95. There are penalties if you don’t last the course and you may get a lot less than you paid in.

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Income protection: this pays a replacement income if you fall ill and are unable to continue working. On the best policies, this will continue either until you recover, or reach retirement age. Unlike critical illness cover, policies will typically pay out for stress and musculoskeletal problems such as back trouble.

The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

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T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

Results

UAE beat Nigeria by five wickets

Hong Kong beat Canada by 32 runs

Friday fixtures

10am, Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Ireland v Jersey

7.30pm, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Canada v Oman

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The biog

Siblings: five brothers and one sister

Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota

Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym

Favourite place: UAE

Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera

What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

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Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

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Company%20Profile
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Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
England's lowest Test innings

- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887

- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994

- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009

- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948

- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888

- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman

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MATCH INFO

Manchester United 2 (Heaton (og) 42', Lindelof 64')

Aston Villa 2 (Grealish 11', Mings 66')

The five pillars of Islam
THE SPECS

      

 

Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
Points Classification

1. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step) 63

2. Arnaud Demare (France / FDJ) 38

3. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 25

4. Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Bahrain) 24

5. Mark Cavendish (Britain / Dimension Data) 22

6. Taylor Phinney (U.S. / Cannondale) 21

7. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) 20

8. Thomas Boudat (France / Direct Energie) 20

9. Stefan Kueng (Switzerland / BMC Racing) 17

10. Michael Matthews (Australia / Sunweb) 17

The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The biog

Name: Sari Al Zubaidi

Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati

Age: 42

Marital status: single

Favourite drink: drip coffee V60

Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia 

Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude 

Abu Dhabi GP schedule

Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm

Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm

Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm

The essentials

What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

When: Friday until March 9

Where: All main sessions are held in the InterContinental Dubai Festival City

Price: Sessions range from free entry to Dh125 tickets, with the exception of special events.

Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.

Information: www.emirateslitfest.com
 

Abu Dhabi Card

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 1,400m

National selection: AF Mohanak

5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 90,000 1,400m

National selection: Jayide Al Boraq

6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 100,000 1,400m

National selection: Rocket Power

6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship Listed (PA) Dh 180,000 1,600m

National selection: Ihtesham

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 1,600m

National selection: Noof KB

7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 2.200m

National selection: EL Faust

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Kandahar%20
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'Midnights'
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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)

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