Kuwait has been bitten by the construction bug. Everywhere you go, you see buildings being constructed at a furious pace. Gone are the days when it would take over a year to get a building constructed. Nowadays you have a 12 storey apartment complex come up in about 6 months!
What really bothers me apart from the shoddy construction that starts to crumble even before you've managed arrange your furniture, is the way the entire process is managed. Cranes blocking the street during peak traffic hours, scaffolding material lying around on a public road along with cement and rubble. It's bad enough that the standard of material the contractors use is poor, now the standard of contruction is just as bad if not worse. Apart from causing huge blockages in traffic which can be a nuisance when you're off to work in the morning, what's worse is they do it like it's their damn birthright - to block streets.
There are numerous methods of construction (mainly adopted in developed countries) that require minimal usage of public areas. Seeing how technology has improved so much that you can (seemingly) build complexes in a matter of months, I'm sure the same can be done to conserve the sanity of the landscape around construction sites! In fact in places in Europe and North America, contractors are fined heavily for blocking public access, something the government in Kuwait should seriously think about considering the construction boom that has hit the country.
For now I am just annoyed at having to take a longer route to get the the highway from my house thanks to two large cranes that have partially and completely blocked access for me respectively. A crane in the neck I tell you........or is it 2 cranes in the ass? ;-)
6 comments:
Its not jus CONSTRUCTION of buildings thats a bother.. the way they dig up the road.. n leave it that way for days!!!
im so glad i moved out of salmiya.
Yes construction is happenin at other places too, but the situation isnt that bad.
Its not like the contractors are different, but i guess after being yelled at once or twice.. n after a couple of complaints, the contractors have issued instructions to the workers NOT TO BLOCK UP THE ROADS - ATLEAST durin peak hrs..
some time back i was visitin my cousin who stays in Salmiya (unfortunate, for me).
there is a signal on the main road just before the entrance to Salmiya Centre (the one opposite the Fire station)..
mann there it was - a tractor.. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!! DIGGING IT UP - n a crane climbin up the footpath opposite persian carpets - blocking traffic for ALL the cars coming from EITHER OF THE SIGNALS (there are 4 signals there).
I took my car over the footpath (yeah yeah.. i know its not supposed to be done, but thats one of the reasons i bought a SUV..)n got out of the jam..
dont know how long it lasted though (i had no intention of stayin there n finding out).
jus hope that the workers / contractors would use a bit of common sense before they get yelled at by the residents ..
sigh..
hota hai chalta hai.. duniya hai.
Abt the buildings coming up.. well you can call em building if you like.. from what ive seen -majority of em are matchboxes (in size n in quality)..
no more grounds left to park the cars, yet there are only a few of the matchbox builders (buildin owners), who have had the sense to come up with underground parkin..
Common sense is perhaps deterioratin faster than the oil reserves.. but sadly nobody is bothered abt that bit at all..
OMG, barry u're back! welcome back after the long absence.Im guessing some crane guy pissed you off this morning?
These construction workers can be very annoying n they don't even bother moving out fo the way whenever there is a small gap for cars to go and they r blocking it.It is entirely the faults of the bosses or the contractors.ths is something they should look into before they start contructing.Nobody seems to bother anymore.
Raj is right they r losing their common sense as well as the oil!
Salmiya is way bad. That's why I don't live there although I have a lot of friends that do. I guess it's the whole Indian communal thing. At least some of them are realizing this now and mving to other locals like Jabriya and Salwa which in my opinion will get worse as soon as they run out of space.
Either way the Indian part of salmiya until recently resembled a ghetto. I'm glad they're making some changes to it thanks to the new fly-over that seems to be taking ages to build (maybe they should use the same contractors that are doing the buildings/matchboxes and they'll get the job done faster! ;-)
You're right Raj.....they're losing it. The Oil, the common sense.....even their own people! :p
Thanks for the warm welcome Rubick. Yes the crane guy did piss me off this morning. To be honest there was just one crane guy all of last week but this morning was the heights.....there were two on either side of the road and I had to use a dirt track to get to the main road. The freaking dirt track. The bastards......they need to get organized....they need to get a new attitude as well! Just because they're doing heavy lifting of sorts doesn't mean they own the roads. I can't wait to get home and see what the progress is....in other words....how many more roads they blocked. Jackasses!!!!
Anyway, how've you been mate? ;-)
okkk i can live with the fact of new buildings coming up in every nook and cranny of the street .. But the prices just dont come down .. its more expensive as ever..
Some how kuwait defy the rules of economics which says "If Supply is excess, and no demand, prices come down" But in Kuwait its like .. "Supply is excess, and demand is forced."
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