The surprising thing is that a city that has managed to make a name for itself with its luxury hotels, shopping malls and remarkable architecture, has failed at the sewerage issue, which is seen as a very simple issue. Doesn’t that sound unreasonable to you?
So what is the reason behind the stool problem in Dubai and what exactly is the problem?
To better understand the reason for this problem, let’s first look at the construction process of Dubai.
All of Dubai’s magnificent structures are funded by the government to attract businesses and tourists. The city implements very low tax policies to attract people from around the world and new immigrants.
In fact, there is no income or sales tax in Dubai. To compensate for this, the city seeks to increase other revenue streams. However, since Dubai has determined such a tax policy, it has to borrow when it wants to undertake a new project.
For example, Dubai also borrowed money while building the Burj Khalifa, which cost $1.5 billion. Moreover, this skyscraper was not the only expense of that period. The city spends billions of dollars on the construction and advertising campaign of the Emirates fleet.
Obviously, Dubai has spent huge amounts of money on different projects other than Burj Khalifa and the Emirates fleet, so much so that its debts are estimated to have reached $65 billion in 2018.
Such a huge figure accounts for 56% of gross domestic product (GDP). Dubai does not have taxes or oil revenue like other countries and cities. The city is heavily dependent on tourism fees and investments.
In short, how many people live in Dubai and to what extent people benefit from the city’s services are very important in terms of the city’s source of income. Dubai was also affected by the global financial crisis in 2008, which nearly caused the collapse of many state-owned banks.
Ultimately, Dubai focuses on completing the construction of Burj Khalifa in order to increase its revenues.
Because this structure, which will be the tallest skyscraper in the world, will attract the attention of thousands of people around the world and there will be an increase in the number of tourists coming to the city. For this reason, the construction of the skyscraper is wanted to be completed as soon as possible and in the meantime, it is decided that a sewer system is not necessary.
Spending time or money improving sewer infrastructure is simply not a priority. Therefore, dumping waste by trucks will be cheaper in the short term than expanding the sewer system.
But as Burj Khalifa’s fame spreads and the number of people visiting it increases, more and more waste begins to accumulate.
This skyscraper was estimated to accommodate an estimated 35,000 people. 35,000 people meant 7,000 kilograms of feces per day. In order for Burj Khalifa to get rid of this waste, trucks came every other day and constantly pumped feces from the building.
But there was another problem. The city’s sewer lines did not have the required carrying capacity. This resulted in trucks queuing for hours dumping human waste into factories, and this became the fate of many buildings in the city center as the city continued to expand.
For Dubai, whose goal is to increase its population and become known worldwide, this problem has not been seriously tried to solve for many years.
In 2017, the transportation of feces by trucks, which had been going on for years, ended due to increasing health problems. The Dubai government has allocated a budget of $30 billion to greatly improve the sewage system.
In addition, the targeted new system will also help reduce wastewater, which produces millions of cubic meters of irrigation water. But the project is not yet completed and is planned to last until 2025.
In summary, it seems that Dubai will largely get rid of its orange tankers carrying feces in a few years and will manage to include a sewage system at the same level alongside its modern architectural designs.
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