85% of Dubai buildings comply with planning and construction laws
DUBAI
Dubai Municipality has confirmed that more than 85% of the existing buildings and establishments in the Emirate of Dubai comply with the approved planning and construction rules and regulations.
“One of the main tasks of the Building Inspection Section in our Buildings Department is the constant control and inspection of all existing buildings and establishments in the Emirate of Dubai to ensure their compliance to the laws of construction and safety,” said Layali Abdul Rahman Al Mulla, Director of Buildings Department at Dubai Municipality.
“The inspectors of the Section also catch the violations regarding building usages and stop the unplanned growth by correcting and repositioning them in order to achieve the vision the Municipality to build a happy and sustainable city,” she said.
“Buildings Department attended 99.14% of the complaints regarding building violations last year. During 2016, the department received 3,375 complaints from the public through the Municipality’s Toll-free number 800900 about buildings that violate the rules and regulations,” revealed Al Mulla, praising the role of customers from all segments of the society and their interaction with the Municipality to give their comments and complaints about the objectionable buildings.
She noted that the Buildings Department gives very big importance and priority for the observations and reports of the public as it has formed an evening working team of engineers and inspectors of the department to look into the reports and complaints received from customers related to offences that occur during the night period are hard to find out during the morning team’s inspections.
Al Mulla also praised the role of the strategic partners of the Municipality from various local departments in implementing the laws and local orders that regulate construction work in the emirate, such as the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Department of Economic Development, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Police and the Land Department.
She said the responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the Buildings Department, especially the Building Inspection Section go beyond the supervisory and inspection role, as the Department meets the needs of customers through processing the applications received by the Section for checking the existing buildings and establishments and also by attending to the reports received about the irregularities in the buildings.
“The Department acts as for the public welfare by maintaining the safety of the users of the existing buildings and establishments as a result of the misuse of the buildings by making random additions. We are keen to preserve the physical appearance and the aesthetic beauty of all existing buildings and establishments in the Emirate of Dubai by applying sustainability standards and providing excellent services to all segments of the society and meeting all their needs and requirements as quickly as possible,” said Al Mulla.
Saeed Ahmed Khalifa bin Humaidan Al Falasi, Head of the Building Inspection Section said that the Section has a combination of qualified technical cadres of engineers and specialists, who conduct inspection tours in buildings.
“During 2016, they issued 15,895 notices to buildings for violation of the construction laws and regulations. This has resulted in preparing 46,976 technical reports regarding these violations,” said Al Falasi.
He added that the engineers of the Section carried out 54,221 field visits to ascertain the extent of compliance of these buildings and they caught 17,075 construction violations, majority of them (47.14%) were making additions and modifications without licence.