Concrete spillage is becoming an problem on Dubai's roads, said officials at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), who warned concrete producers that there will be little tolerance for violators.
"We are removing concrete almost three times a week," said one employee at RTA's Maintenance Department, which records cases on a daily basis. "It has become a major problem in the past two years."
"It costs us a lot of money," said Abdulla Yousef Al Ali, Director of the Maintenance Department at the authority, explaining that cost of the repairs amount to around Dh500,000 per year.
Besides the financial cost, concrete spillages tarnish the aesthetic quality of the city's roads and cause air pollution as well as accidents and traffic delays, he said.
"If the concrete is fresh, cars can skid on it and if it is hard, driving over it might cause damage to tyres," said Al Ali, explaining that accidents and traffic delays could also be caused as drivers swerve to avoid heaps of concrete.
The problem is not limited to areas such as Al Quoz, Jebel Ali Industrial Area, Al Sofough, Ras Al Khor Industrial, Umm Ramoul and Al Qusais, where most of Dubai's concrete factories are located, he said.
The city's main arteries such as Sheikh Zayed Road and its interchanges; Emirates Roads, Al Khail Road, Jumeirah Road and Al Wasl Road, are also affected, said Al Ali, explaining that work to repair the damage usually starts after midnight so as not want to disturb the traffic flow in the city.
"One of the main reasons for the slippages is the fact that many companies overload their trucks," said Al Ali, whose department met with factory representatives on Saturday in a move to press producers to address the problems.
By Vesela Todorova
© Emirates Today 2006
