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Dubai: Property experts have urged Dubai's developers to avoid investment shortcuts, to ensure buildings are structurally sound enough to withstand the impact of harsh weather.
The recent rains that created havoc in Dubai have exposed the construction quality of some buildings and villas in the city.
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Some homeowners complained of water leakage, cracks on walls and flooding in parking lots during the heavy downpour two weeks ago.
"I live in a Dh2 million villa, but when the rains came, water was dripping from the bathroom ceiling. The parking lot was also flooded," said one Dubai resident.
"There is no proper drainage system in our place. Another sad thing about this issue is that the building management keeps postponing repair work in preparation for the rains. The next thing we knew, the rains have already arrived and water was dripping from all over into our hall. It was only then that they started working on the problem - shabbily, I must say," said Bahneh Dela Cerna, a resident of Bur Dubai.
Salwa Malhas, Al Mazaya Holding executive vice-president for projects and business development, said realty firms should not just consider their profits, but ensure that their projects will be viable in the long term and protect investors' interests as well.
Substandard materials
He said the use of substandard materials should be avoided and that relevant designs specifically suited to the environment of the region have to be planned, otherwise even well-built structures will eventually show their cracks when the weather takes its toll against them.
"The recent rain and flooding demonstrate how important it is for realty firms to conduct thorough and relevant feasibility studies that go way beyond the mere measure of whether a development will make money in the short term or not," Malhas told Gulf News.
"For a project to be viable, long-term investment shortcuts in the building process, in addition to the application of substandard building materials, have to be avoided or else they will be subject to anything nature throws its way," Malhas added.
Dr Shahriar Daneshjoo, chairman of German property developer Bavaria Gulf, said every building should be waterproof, regardless in Dubai or somewhere else.
He said some of Dubai's buildings that were built earlier did not fully comply with the international standards of waterproofing because developers did not pay enough attention to the issue, given the "insignificant" number of rainy days in the region.
"Dubai properties were extremely cheap in the past so the limited construction budget did not allow meeting international standards. That will definitely change in the future because of increasing property value. Dubai construction quality is being improved from day to day," Daneshjoo told Gulf News.
'Rain shields'
Ahmet Kayhan, managing director of Reidin.com, said converting the city's buildings into "full rain shields" is not feasible considering that for the last 50 years, rains lasted only five days on average each year.
"The best example is the UK, the country - famous for its rains - gives flood warnings and hotline numbers continuously after the recent rains," Kayhan said.
However, he said, developers and regulators in Dubai should be able to "cover the bear minimums" to withstand at least two to three weeks of rains, not hurricanes.
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