Almost 200 buildings were demolished by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi following their failure to meet public health and safety standards. Since 2010, 881 buildings were marked out as requiring improvement, of which 685 were refurbished, 16 were demolished and 57 are currently under maintenance.
90 buildings were evacuated and more than 55,000 workers moved to worker accommodations in the city’s suburbs after 99 offences were recorded during the same period for buildings housing a large number of workers and bachelors in residential neighbourhoods. 755 of the 41,000 workers, who have been occupying 2,700 villas in residential neighbourhoods since 2010, were also evacuated.
Undertaken between 2010 and 2013, these demolitions were carried out after building owners were informed, a report by Gulf News said.
More than 12,500 warnings were issued in 2011 for building, public health, and roadside violations, which reached 17,700 in 2012 and 10,500 by the end of September 2013. Commercial and administrative entities operating from villas in residential districts were also evacuated by the Municipality.