Demolition Continues for Dh350b Jumeirah Gardens

DUBAI - Glass is strewn on the marble steps of the roman villa and garden chairs are dumped in the green water of the family swimming pool.

By Martin Croucher

Published: Wed 11 Feb 2009, 1:14 AM

Last updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 9:37 AM

The villas opposite Safa Park where demolition was on, on Monday. (Right) Avilla which will be demolished in the coming days.—KT Photos by Shakil Qaiser This is building number 353-389/6, which will this week be among several others demolished by diggers to make way for the Jumeirah Gardens development.

However, street 2a, near Safa Park, will remain a wasteland for a few years.

The Dh350 billion project to revamp the Al Wasl and Satwa area of Dubai has been postponed indefinitely since December and the preliminary demolition stage was also said to have been cancelled.

Despite that, Al Omara Building and Demolition, a subsidiary of Goldline Group, recently received a request from master developer Meraas to demolish 10 more villas.

“There has been a gap of about three or four weeks since the last demolition project from Meraas,” said a deputy manager at the company, who did not wish to be named. “We began the demolition on Saturday and it will last around another week.”

Jumeirah Gardens was announced in October 2008 at Cityscape Dubai and raised eyebrows given the cost and size of the project.

Demolition had taken place from summer onwards on large parts of Satwa to make way for the project. Many residents who remained in their houses complained of dust and debris from partially demolished neighbourhoods.

However in December, Meraas announced that the project was effectively on hold. “We are reviewing our business strategy, as well as the phasing and rollout of the Jumeirah Gardens project to make sure the development proceeds in the most opportune way to meet changing investor needs,” the company said in a statement.

A spokesman on behalf of Meraas said that no officials from the company were willing to talk to the media about whether the renewed demolition meant that the project was back on again.

Aiman Abu Baqer Abdullah, regulation engineer for Dubai Municipality’s Planning and Survey Department said that as far as his department was aware the demolition was on hold.

“Some of the villas in the Safa Park area will be demolished, but not all,” he said. “But most of the demolition is now on hold.”

It is believed that the demolition will take place on various parts of street 2a and street 3 in community 353.

One resident of 2a, who only wished to be known as Raj, said the area would become deserted if the demolition continued. “I haven’t been told to move out yet, but they look like they will demolish the majority of villas on the street this week,” he said.

“This is a nice area. If there is a lot of demolition in the area and it stays that way for years, then people won’t come here anymore.”

martin@khaleejtimes.com