The authority overseeing Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) says it is reviewing the technology used to keep the community’s remaining three manmade lakes clean in a bid to improve the quality of the water.
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC) announced the study days after executive chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said he wanted to fill in the lakes and replace them with other amenities such as a park or mini gold souk.
The lakes are often green and are known to be difficult to keep clean because they are a stagnant pool of water with no bacteria or marine life to contribute to their maintenance.
“Most of the time they are dirty and smell bad despite being cleaned daily,” a reader named Jonas, who claimed to live in JLT, wrote on ArabianBusiness.com in response to Bin Sulayem’s comments published on Thursday.
DMCC property director Matt Lomax said the authority was working on improving the quality of the lakes.
“At DMCC we continuously look at ways [of] enhancing the environment for the 65,000 people currently working and living in Jumeirah Lakes Towers,” Lomax said.
“One such initiative is to ensure that the water quality of the lakes are [sic] managed in the most efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable way.”
There are few new technologies for the purification of water in large scale projects such as in JLT, according to DMCC.
The authority was considering adopting the same “magnetic techniques” system used to clean Zabeel Park Lake, which Dubai Municipality recently announced was working well.
Bin Sulayem said last week he would prefer to fill in the lakes, an opinion he has held for eight years.
“It’s no secret, I hate lakes. I love more efficiency,” he said.
“The only lake that I think will be untouchable is the one facing the Dubai Diamond Exchange [because of] the view.”
DMCC, the Dubai Government authority dedicated to establishing the emirate as the global gateway for commodity trade and the licensing authority for the DMCC Free Zone in JLT, is transforming one of the four lakes into a 55,000 square metre community park including a full-sized basketball court and an amphitheatre.
Bin Sulayem said while he wanted to replace the waterways with “more efficient” amenities and facilities, any changes to the remaining three lakes would be based on community support.
The lakes were part of the original masterplan designed by Nakheel, the government owned developer, Bin Sulayem said, and he had never liked them.
Readers who have commented on ArabianBusiness.com have expressed mixed reactions to Bin Sulayem’s opinion. Most are concerned that filling in the lakes will ruin their view and reduce the value of their property, while others have welcomed the idea, saying they would prefer other facilities.
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