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Labour camp at centre of BBC row to close in 2 months
The Dubai labour camp at the centre of a undercover BBC documentary will be shut down within two months, its manager said on Thursday.
The 6,000 workers based at Nad al Sheba, the largest camp operated by Arabtec Construction, would be moved to a new camp near Arabian Ranches, Tariq Salar told Arabian Business.
Secret cameras from the Panorama programme filmed overflowing raw sewage leaking through the camp.
In the documentary, screened in the UK last week, one worker complained the toilets were so filthy they were unusable and about garbage and water blocking the roads around the camp.
Since the unauthorised visit by the film crew, security had been tightened up, camp security officer Richard Robertson, told Arabian Business.
During a tour of the camp with our reporter on Thursday, he said extra measures had been implemented at the three entry points to the camp following the breach which, he said, took place shortly after he had clocked off duty.
Robertson said it was not possible for anyone without permission to enter the camp, which is surrounded by a high metal fence.
He admitted a lot of sewage was around the camp at the time of the BBC visit.
A new manhole had been dug to store the sewage in the last three months as the previous one offered insufficient capacity, Robertson said.
During our visit, a worker was in the process of cleaning the toilets but our reporter said that flies were a problem in the toilet area.
Salar said the camp was a temporary camp while Arabtec Construction, the largest listed contractor in the UAE, completed work on building the nearby Dubai racecourse.
Meydan Group in January terminated Arabtec's $1.3bn joint contract with Malaysia’s WCT Bhd to build the racecourse in Dubai, citing delays to delivery of the scheme ahead of its opening for the Dubai World Cup horse race in 2010.
Salar said the new camp was currently being built.
In a strong response to the findings of the programme last week, Arabtec CEO Riad Kamal accused Panorama of being unfair in its reporting of the living and working conditions of workers.
“They have been very unfair not only to Arabtec but to Dubai,” he added.
Arabtec, one of the largest contractors in the UAE which employs a total of 62,000 people, has more than 20 camps in Dubai and Abu Dhabi which Kamal claimed were cleaned daily.
To read Tom Arnold's blog from his tour of Arabtec labour camps, click here.
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Comments 1-10 of 10
Posted by gerry, chester, United Kingdom on 21 April 2009 at 16:05 UAE time
Hi Guys,
I initially commented on the Dubai work camps being better than what I have had the pleasure of working in the past.
The reported problems are nothing NEW in todays market place.
I have had experience in these matters and if You give me an email, I will send You photos of the worst cases I have sorted out and turned the job around. The REMEDY is available for ALL concerned. MRSA/HIV/ Health & Safety standards COSHH.Approved.
Gerry Capaldi
FRICS MBICSc
Posted by gamby on 20 April 2009 at 09:43 UAE time
Why do they have to put that? Anyway, it is an open knowledge to everyone that ever since they are always trying to establish a clean image, every time a negative report is leaking out they always say that it is unfair, that other country is much worse than them, that they are envy of country's success, that the condition of the poor workers here are much better than in their homeland, that if they don't like it they can go back to their country anytime. A typical stupid response just to cover up the mess. First of all, since when it is unfair to expose inhumane living condition? Is it because in their country they are living poor they should have the same thing and treatment here also? At least make it livable for human. A modern day slavery! Cleaning up and inviting the press won't do any good. It is already exposed! Faking it is more annoying!
Posted by prasad on 19 April 2009 at 19:52 UAE time
The property dealers and developers are making money at the expense of the hard toiling workers, who construct excellent accommodation for the privileged by themselves dwelling in ridiculous conditions...........having sacrificed their social life back home......coming to the Gulf with colourful dreams........... living in pathetic conditions and cursing their fate.
Posted by ametis, Dubai, UAE on 19 April 2009 at 14:42 UAE time
Can at least one of the experts who keep writting here, that the labourers have better accomodation in raw sewega environment please explain to me how they know this fact??
Did they live in such and environment so they have first hand experience??
Or are they just being "He who knows the price of everything, knows the value of Nothing??"
I grew up in humble environment, but trust me it was not amongst raw sewage...
Nor do I belive for one moment that there are anyone who willingly lives in such conditions...
Chris and Guita ablove quote that the labourers have better conditions in raw seweage environment than they did at their homelands//
PROVE it or stop being a moron
Posted by robert, Dubai on 19 April 2009 at 10:33 UAE time
With reference to what Guita says I would like to comment... It's not about the UK showing it's own problems because the UK national papers and press report these issues all the time. It takes a documentary like this to show people that it's not all "Glitz and Glamour" in Dubai and once under the "thin vaneer" Dubai like all cities has it's share of problems but aren't we glad that now we have discovered 1 more and can do something about it?? We cannot rely on the local media and press to report bad news and labour abuse they simply will not do it and keep the peace by focusing on the latest, biggest and best.
Posted by Johnny M, Dubai, UAE on 19 April 2009 at 10:12 UAE time
Guita, the level of living conditions these workers come from is no excuse for allowing poor living conditions to exist in the UAE. That's the attitude that allows the profit-chasing contractors from providing humane and comfortable living conditions for foreign workers now.
If the Ministry of Labour wishes to convince us that they are carrying out regular spot-check without notice and without camp managers using tried and tested techniques to evade negative reviews, they have a long way to go. Let's start hearing about prosecutions, heavy fines that actually have an impact on the offending company's bottom-line and in more drastic cases, the closure of unsuitable camps with the offending company being forced to house workers in apartments until the new, more suitable camp is found or built.
Posted by Brian, Dubai, UAE on 19 April 2009 at 10:01 UAE time
If you increase the salary then the price of property starts going up again - NO THANK YOU
If anyone is so concerned with how much the labourers are getting then i sugggest they donate half their ridiculous salary to them :-)
NB: these guys have a better life in the UAE than they did back home.
Posted by Tome de Souza, Dubai, UAE on 19 April 2009 at 09:41 UAE time
Gita, your comments are not only disgusting and frankly speaking I do not have any grading for you to uphold your comments.
What the labourers have way back home or how they lived does not constitute their leaving conditions here in Dubai. They have a hope for which they have come to the Middle East to change their way of life for a better living. This small light of home will definitely transform their way of living way back home should it be required.
With your ideology, human beings or the country will definitely not grow but will be worst. A critics and reality should be taken in a positive manner for the benefit of the country, workplace or anywhere. We should always look ahead for the future and not the past. Also we correct the past and make our future better not only for the community but the world around. Being an Indian, I am grateful the English community for everything that they have given or done. Every rose comes along with thorns and to relish the beauty one need to understand the pains those come as a complimented gift.
Posted by Chris, Dubai, UAE on 18 April 2009 at 23:11 UAE time
It is such a shame that the international press have had an effect when the local authorities, who have been very familiar with this and other labour camp cases, has not done anything about it. The authorities are happy to visit the nice camps in DIP and other areas with new camps, but the filthy locations are seemingly beyond them.With the surplus of labour accommodation available, there is no reason for any employer to house workers badly.....even if badly is better than what they may have had in their own country.
Posted by sandi, dubai, UAE on 18 April 2009 at 16:55 UAE time
Does poverty justify inhuman living conditions? How dare people try and explain pure exploitation and have the gall to justify the conditions under which human beings are being made to work, irrespective of their nationality. They are working for their living and are not in a charity camp for the homeless or destitute. The contractors are doing them no favors but in fact sucking the life out of them with unhygienic conditions, low salaries, basic food that is not nutritious, among other conditions. The BBC has done us all a favor and now the world can see the real stuff.