Inspire of the worst economic situation, the number of abandon car in the streets and car parks of Dubai is increasing in an alarming rate. Most of these cars are high end sports cars and are left to gather dust at airport car parks and on the roadside across the country. This is causing problem for their local communities by hogging their parking spaces at the airport and sitting slumped outside their fancy yacht clubs.
Though it is really difficult to explain the reasons behind the recent increase in vehicles being dumped. One of the most probable problem is the financial crisis that spread all over the UAE. Many emigrants were bankrupted and forcefully had to abandon their cars at the airport and take off. Most of those cars are still there. The airport and parking garages around the Dubai airport are filled with these cars. The owners leave keys and the loan papers inside usually with apology notes. The government should sell them, but apparently they are holding onto them as evidence in case they come back to the country.
In a report of Dubai Municipality, It is showed that during the first quarter of this year nearly 3,040 cars were abandoned across the UAE. In the year of 2011 for the same period the number of abandon cars were 2,738.
Yaqoob Mohammed Al Ali, who is the current head of specialized cleaning unit at the Waste Management Department at Dubai Municipality said that “Abandoned cars are dispersed all over Dubai. Most are found in industrial areas”. “These cars are not only take up parking spaces in suburban and manufacturing areas, but they also create environmental issues like waste and garbage generation.”
In Dubai, Inspectors puts a warning notice for 15 days whenever a car is suspected as abandoned. If no one response for that notice then the Municipality seize the car which can be retrieved for Dh700. But most of the time no one comes to pick up the car and those high end cars are just left to gather dust.
More than 400 abandoned automobiles departed underneath the hammer in an open car auction last year in Abu Dhabi. Most of these vehicles were seized after being abandoned in parking areas, roadsides or in open areas without fences. Though there is no official announcement that Dubai Municipality will take similar actions for abandoned cars or not.
Macy Pellerin, Who is from USA, said that – She saw a few of car parked outside her house for about a month. She was very annoyed with the situation because those cars took up parking spaces and nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. Those cars were there for such a long time that those cars tires were puncher and they were caked in dust. Then it was just a matter of time when someone scrawls something invasive on the glass.
Now a days, this is becoming very serious issue in all over UAE. Developers are taking this very seriously and even the community management staffs are much more aware to contact the relevant authorities while seeing abandoned cars.