Panorama tonight -Dubai

[Viking Warrior]

Did anybody else watch tonights Panorama about the Dubai building industry and slaves from the sub continent.

 

It always amazes me how the BBC can suddenly turn up in a country and do undercover filming with out being caught.

 

I don't think the BBC undercover Journo portrayed the average dwellings of some of the workers they were referring to.

 

I was appalled at some of the conditions some were allegedly living in.

 

With so much filth about why do these guys not get up and clean the place up instead of sitting on their backsides smiling for the camera.

 

Im sure thereis some poor conditions over there. I know when I was over there a few years back there was some squalor but nowhere near as bad as being portrayed by the sensationalist jornos from the beeb

 

Maybe Phil and ericofarabia may wish to comment

[dubai_phil]

Did anybody else watch tonights Panorama about the Dubai building industry and slaves from the sub continent.

 

It always amazes me how the BBC can suddenly turn up in a country and do undercover filming with out being caught.

 

I don't think the BBC undercover Journo portrayed the average dwellings of some of the workers they were referring to.

 

I was appalled at some of the conditions some were allegedly living in.

 

With so much filth about why do these guys not get up and clean the place up instead of sitting on their backsides smiling for the camera.

 

Im sure thereis some poor conditions over there. I know when I was over there a few years back there was some squalor but nowhere near as bad as being portrayed by the sensationalist jornos from the beeb

 

Maybe Phil and ericofarabia may wish to comment

 

On average

 

It is worse than was portrayed.

 

The programme has not (obviously) made it down here yet, we have to wait for it on BBC World (iplayer doesn't work outside the UK peeps)

 

You have to understand the simple premise that ANYONE who works down here is OWNED, not employed. You are sponsored you are not a "citizen".

 

How you are then treated depends simply on your sponsor.

 

In a world where the simple concept of Quality does not truly exist, and where the concept of "Last Price" is king, then everything has to be made for the lowest cost and the biggest profit.

 

When you see a programme like that and then think that these people have built The Burj Dubai - would YOU want to buy?

 

It is not simply enough to say the "government" does not care, they actually do. the problem is every time they try and do SOMETHING, cause and effect comes in to play. One example was a fire in an overcrowded villa - used by a company to house worked 15 to a room. Many died - result a massive crack down on villa sharing, inspectors sent out people evicted. But then where do they GO? Answer - 40 foot containers dumped in the desert hidden behind wooden fences because they STILL have to build the infrastructure..

 

Another example - The city has a massive construction boom - the developers have to build the property for the customers who have paid. there is no spare capacity to build the labour camps to house the workers... When they DO build the camps, the sewage system and the electricty supply is not of sufficient capacity to service the camps - result no lighting and a reliance on Sceptic Tanks and a fleet of tanker trucks to dump the sewage. The tankers then form queues which takes 10 HOURS to empty one truck - so there are not enough trucks to empty the sewage etc etc etc.

 

Simply put, it is a disgrace, it could have been avoided IF thought had been given to the impact of the rapid development. The PROBLEM is that the Government THOUGHT they had it covered but then developers built 3 times the density they had expected and three times the speed.

 

Many more stories like this, and that doesn't even BEGIN to cover the mafia style "recruitment agents" operating in SE Asia.

 

Still it's OK you Brits have got Primark and all that stuff is so cheap simply by magic;)

[Johnny Shearer]

I just wonder whats going to happen to all the workers once the construction work has finished up or slowed down?

[Sheaf Saint]

I didn't see the Panorama program lastnight as I had already watched something on BBC2 about refugees escaping from North Korea, and the C4 Dispatches program about the war in afghanistan, I had had my fill of asian troubles for the night. But there was a very interesting and eye-opening multi-page piece in the Independent's Life pullout today which I started reading at lunchtime. You can read the article here

Edited 7 April, 2009 by Sheaf Saint

[Saint in Paradise]

That woman who lives in the Range Rover should have left the country with her husband and then had

him resign. Still hinesight is 20/20, I have a lot of sympathy for them.

[dubai_phil]

That woman who lives in the Range Rover should have left the country with her husband and then had

him resign. Still hinesight is 20/20, I have a lot of sympathy for them.

 

It is never that easy, depending on the nature of the employer, most actually retain your passport when you arrive so until you resign and have your visa cancelled you have no passport. End of.

 

Interesting article, but it misses out on one critical point - that woman in the Range Rover is typical of the past 4 or 5 years. People landed in this country and simply did not understand that it was DIFFERENT from the west.

I spent nearly all my Multi-National career trying to tell Euro idiots that this place was different. People would come here and because "you guys" had been so brain-washed by the whole "property = profit" lifestyle they simply looked at property, compared the cost per metre and woosh bought stuff.

No of course they never used lawyers, never looked at the small print, they ignored the local long term expats who told them IT IS DIFFERENT BE CAREFUL, IT IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS. Jeez even IF you get a freehold title to a property you do not OWN or have any RIGHTS on the LAND so the landowner can simply decide to demolish your property to build a new road. WHY DIDN'T YOU IDIOTS LISTEN!

 

That woman is an example of why the city has become like it is - buying more than one property maxing out on debt, they ignored all the conventional wisdom.

The whole thing was driven by GREED, and the more greedy property buyers that "wanted a piece of the action" the more the city infrastructure bursts at the seams.

For 4 years we had these arrogant Rupert types telling us that we were idiots, why haven't you bought yet? We own 6 places now, we just flipped an off-plan for 50k profit and bought a whole floor in a tower block.

They flaunted their non-wealth in our faces and now they are up to their necks in the sh*t.

 

They didn't listen, their greed created the ludicrous demand to sell more and more property and many of the problems and now they all moan about it and are developing a conscience.

 

Most of the regulars here think - tough sh8t and good riddance a%5holes

- why?

 

because we spent 5 or more years telling these people it was WRONG and that they should NOT do it and oh how they mocked us....

 

You look back at the original plans and concepts for the developments and every single one has ended up with construction at quadruple the original planned density, planning regs design regs all ignored in the rush to get more towers up and top end villas.

EVERYTHING that has been built in the past years is about LUXURY EXECUTIVE living. They even started demolishing the places where the workers lived but expected people earning 11,000 pound a year to move into 10,000 pound a year flats...

 

It isn't just about the lack of care or implementing the rules, the westerners and especially the "property is God" brain washed Brits have as much to answer for THEY demanded more and more chances to make a profit, faster build times for off plan and lower Primark style build costs.

 

Far as we're concerned - that poor woman - WE TRIED TO TELL YOU SO YOU STUPID FOOL

[Ludwig]

I didn't see the Panorama program lastnight as I had already watched something on BBC2 about refugees escaping from North Korea, and the C4 Dispatches program about the war in afghanistan, I had had my fill of asian troubles for the night. But there was a very interesting and eye-opening multi-page piece in the Independent's Life pullout today which I started reading at lunchtime. You can read the article here

 

Definitely recommend reading this.