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Power Generators’ Noise Disturbs Ajman Residents

AJMAN - Moroccan expatriate Aziz A. and his family, who live in Al Anzi building in Al Naemia area of Ajman, are rattled by the continuous roar of power generators in their vicinity that has around 15 buildings.

Aziz says the generators don’t stop even in the night and “my (two) children cannot sleep in the day or night”.

Mohamed Said, Egyptian resident of the same building, says the owner of the nearby building is planning to run one more generator, besides the one working round the clock now. “I cannot imagine another generator. We cannot stand the noise of even the present one. How about another?”

The problem is not only in the area. With the rapid growth in the real estate sector in Ajman, the demand for power has increased tremendously. Investors are forced to wait for six months to two years to get power connection to  their buildings.

As they have to repay the huge loans, the investors are not prepared to wait till the power connection is given for renting the units out to tenants. They have turned to generators to ensure power supply to the units so that they earn monthly rents.

Hani Mohammed, representative of Al Tawfiq Property Company based in Ajman, told Khaleej Times that around 400 multi-storey buildings in residential and industrial areas are using generators now. They include 35-40-storey towers.

“We used to go by the appointment system at the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) office in Ajman before the financial crisis unravelled. Now, everything has turned upside down. The FEWA office is not giving appointments and the power plant announced last year is likely to be delayed,” he said.

Saleh Ayoub, a representative of Al Marwa Property Company, said he could not but buy a generator that produces 600kw for Dh600,000.

“I can’t wait for an appointment to apply for power supply for long. I need to pay the bank instalments and meet other financial commitments,” he said.

Abdullah Zahed, who has built an eight-storey building at a cost of around Dh12 million recently, said he bought 65 digital electricity meters for  Dh4,000 each.

“I also pay Dh5,000 for the generators’ diesel every four days. Tenants are charged according to the Ajman Electricity and Water Authority rates,” he said. However, the charges thus collected form only 30 per cent of the actual cost of the diesel. “We meet the rest from the rents,” he said.

The FEWA’s electricity generation will not be able to fulfil the future power demands in the emirate due to the construction boom, according to the Ajman Department of Municipality and Planning statistics.

The emirate’s population is growing at 18 per cent a year and real estate projects worth more than Dh80 billion are being carried out.

Yahya Al Rayasa, Head of the Licensing Department, said the municipality recently issued licences to more than 100 commercial and residential units to use generators on certain safety conditions. These conditions include soundproof cages for generators.

Al Rayasa said the municipality has not received any complaints about noise pollution. Officials are conducting inspections to ensure the landlords who use generators are abiding by the conditions. Landlords who do not comply with them and cause public disturbance will have to pay fines up to Dh500. Their licences will also be suspended.

An official at the FEWA office here said the authority, supplying power to most of Sharjah and the other Northern Emirates, would not be able to meet the demand for sometime in future due to the population growth and rapid real estate development in these emirates. In 2008, the FEWA generated 6,605 GW of electricity to service many new buildings in these emirates.

“The power generation is not enough to meet the current demand,” the official said. Plans are under way to complete Al Zawra power plant by 2012 which is expected to solve the power shortage in Ajman, he said.

Shaikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Ajman Department of Municipality and Planning, said, “We have talked to the FEWA officials several times and explained the situation of investors who have to wait for six months to a year to get power connections for their new buildings.”

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