The scale of the demolition in Satwa is amazing/shocking. There are photos taken yesterday (Sat 12 July 08) here. You may recall that we were evicted from our great, and cheap, villa in Al Satwa (not the one in the picture above of course), and had to be out by 1st July, as that’s when the bull dozers were allegedly starting demolition. After a scout around Satwa yesterday and visiting our old compound, which is almost deserted bar only about 2 villas, we find out this morning that apparently the eviction deadline was extended through to 1st September - FREE RENT. As they say “Welcome to Dubai”!
Its worth noting however that its not just the down-at-heel part of Satwa that's going. There are huge mansions in Satwa, formerly the homes of local Emirati families, that are being flattened as well as you'll see from the photos. The Emirati national families receive financial compensation plus a gift of land from the UAE government on which to build a new home but even so, if Satwa's been your home for years and you don't want to move, its a wrench to move to somewhere new.
OMG, Some of these house are just beautiful, and they look for recently build!!
ReplyDeleteThe locals get a piece of land and financial assistance, till then where are they supposed to stay?