Dewa issues clarification on Living Legends water, power woes

The villas are not connected to the Dewa water supply, and the authority cannot be held responsible for the polluted water.

A luxury villa with no water connection wasn't what these residents paid millions for, but that's something that they have to contend with - at least for a few more weeks.

About 60 villas in the Living Legends community in Dubailand are not connected to the Dewa water supply, and are supplied water by the developer by a drinking water truck that refills an underground tank in their villa - a tank which could get dirty, causing polluted water to come out of their faucets.

The Dubai and Water Electricity Authority (Dewa) has clarified that the villas are not connected to the Dewa water supply, and so the authority cannot be responsible for the quality of water residents receive through other means.

In a statement to Khaleej Times, Dewa said: "Regarding the Living Legends community's complaint, Dewa has investigated the matter and would like to clarify that this issue concerns the developer and the main contractor who was hired by the developer and got delayed in water infrastructure works. Dewa is not responsible for this issue, as the developer was not supposed to lease the units without obtaining completion certificates for infrastructure prior to leasing the units."

Residents maintain that it has been several months now that they have been living in their villas with no Dewa water connection.

In fact, some residents are also not connected to the Dewa electricity supply, and the developer, Tanmiyat, has given them a power generator for the meanwhile.

Dewa has clarified further that the reason residents do not have power is because of "incomplete wiring in the meter cabinet by the developer's contractor".

Saleh Tabakh, who handles the marketing for Tanimyat Group and is the CEO of Delta International Real Estate, said that Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the community are yet to receive their completion notice. He said residents could expect to be connected with the Dewa water supply within 40 to 60 days.

Tabakh informed that the developer has also hired a new contractor to speed up the completion process. "We have taken the initiative to pay for the water. We're not charging anything for the water we're supplying. That's something we are trying to do until the (Dewa) water is connected," Tabakh said.

"We received a few complaints that the water wasn't clean. We sent our inspection team and we found that the tanks weren't 100 per cent clean, so we've cleaned those tanks. But, still, every time we receive a complaint, we investigate. There could be two reasons - the first one, that the tanks weren't cleaned properly at handover. Secondly, the misuse of the tanks, which could happen. Landscaping could pollute the tank."

Dewa says that it is waiting for the developer to rectify the snags before it can connect electricity for the remaining villas.

"As for electricity supply, based on an agreed plan with the developer, Dewa partially released power for 419 villas on March 28, 2017, and the remaining villas' supply cannot be released due to incomplete wiring in the meter cabinet by developer's contractor. Dewa has communicated with the developer to expedite the installation and the rectification of the remaining snags to ensure public safety.

"Dewa requires that developers and contractors abide to its standards and procedures, in order to maintain the highest level of reliability, availability, efficiency and safety of electricity and water networks. Dewa has continuous supply of water and electricity, and can meet future demand to support the growth of Dubai.

"We would like to reiterate that Dubai has currently an installed capacity of 10200 MW of electricity and 470 MIGD of desalinated water which is sufficient for coming years and future developments. This installed capacity will increase by 3465 MW to reach 13665 MW by 2020."

In total, Living Legends has 500 villas, 184 of them are in Phase 1 and the remaining are in phases 2 and 3. The developer has handed over only 250 villas out of the total 500 so far.

Villas in phases 2 and 3 are among the ones with no connection to Dewa water while three villas in Phase 3 are powered by a power generator.

Complaints of residents

Houssein Jouni, a Lebanese financial consultant who lives in Phase 2, said dirty water often comes out of the faucets, as the water tanks are 'filthy'. Jouni's wife is pregnant and he believes this may be creating a health hazard for them.

"The water is so dirty. My wife shouldn't be exposed to this kind of water. The tank is so dirty inside. This is happening either because the tank isn't properly sealed or because they're opening the tank several times and the dirt is coming inside - either way, this is their problem because they didn't provide me with a sealed water tank. It's the method and the quality. The water starts flooding and the water comes back in, bringing in the dirt. My wife is brushing her teeth in this water and showering in it," Jouni said, who has been living in his new home since March.

"If you go down to the health and safety part, you can see that there's a rat problem. There are lots of lizards and rats. People had their rats inside their cable box. We also found a rat in the kitchen."

Another resident is complaining that the title deeds of their villas have not been handed out to them yet.

Tabakh said residents of Phase two and Phase three will receive their title deeds once the developer receives the completion notice from authorities.

"The phase one already has their title deeds, phase 2 and 3 are in process. Every time we complete a project, to issue that title deed, we have to complete that phase. Every single unit has to be completed and the moment the completion happens, we invite authorities to do the inspections. For Phase 2, the paperwork is completed and by end of November, they should have their title deeds and phase 3 will follow," Tabakh said.
 
Residents have also voiced concerns over the developer's promise of a golf course, which has not been delivered yet. Tabakh said they will put in the grass once they have a water connection in that area.

sarwat@khaleejtimes.com

A power generator that supplies electricity to the villas

An underground water tank

Dirty water in an underground tank

A truck supplies water to the villas

• Dubai