167 Al Wathba buildings under inspection

The Abu Dhabi City Municipality (Al Wathba Municipal Centre) has carried out a sweeping campaign targeting buildings within the confines of Al Wathba Municipal Centre, to verify their compliance with the specifications of buildings as well health and safety stipulations in place.

A site survey was conducted to identify targeted buildings, and a procedure was then developed to monitor them as part of the strategy of the Municipal System aimed at protecting the community, promoting health and safety standards, and intensifying monitoring to rectify faults and offences reported in residential buildings.

The Municipality called on building owners to comply with the applicable rules, specifications and standards introduced by the government to ensure a modern, healthy and proper accommodation for all community members. It particularly urged them to avoid tampering with the engineering specifications of buildings, or constructing artificial partitioning walls.

The campaign conducted by the Inspection and Monitoring Division in coordination with the Technical Administration of Al Wathba Municipal Centre, covered the inspection of 167 buildings at Al Wathba and areas within its geographical domain to verify their compliance with the health and safety conditions.

The campaign resulted in serving 89 warnings, and reporting 39 offences. 24 buildings were found compliant with the applicable rules and have carried out the required maintenance works to comply with the standards of health and safety of occupants.

The campaign highlighted the importance of maintaining the civilised appearance and harmony of buildings, and ensuring safety standards in air-conditioning and chimneys. The relevant teams had inspected the cables and electrical extensions to verify their soundness and compliance with safety requirements. They had also spotted casual engineering changes made in buildings without obtaining official permits from the competent authorities, which would undermine safety of occupants as they fall short of the required specifications of buildings.

The Abu Dhabi City Municipality reminds landlords and property investors of the mandatory compliance with the applicable laws, and building codes governing the occupancy of residential units and constructing annexures, appurtenances in various properties in Abu Dhabi. It also urges landlords to obtain permits from the competent authorities before making any additions, partitions, walls, construction works or other amendments in order to ensure the safety of the occupants and maintain public health, besides performing periodic maintenance to the components of the buildings.

The municipality confirmed that it would continue this series of inspection campaigns on various commercial and residential buildings, and accelerate work tempo, besides utilising the great potentials to monitor and follow up buildings that fall short of the applicable standards.

If violators found unresponsive and fail to redress these issues, the municipality will refer the case to the competent authorities to take necessary actions according to the laws applicable in Abu Dhabi Emirate in this regard.

The municipality calls upon all residents to adhere to the stipulations, regulations and laws in force in Abu Dhabi, report any violations through the official communication channels and contact Abu Dhabi Government Contact Centre

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