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Abandoned vehicles removed in clean-up campaign

DUBAI — As many as 96 abandoned vehicles were towed away from various parts of Dubai during the first two days of the ‘Clean up the World’ campaign.

Cranes and towing vehicles were used as volunteers helped Dubai Municipality to remove the vehicles deserted by their owners, a senior official from the Municipality’s Waste Management Department said.

“Since yesterday (Tuesday) morning till this noon, we removed 71 light vehicles and 25 heavy vehicles from different locations,” Head of Specialised Cleaning Section, Yaqoob Mohammed Al Ali told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.

The figure shows an increase in the number of dust-laden, abandoned vehicles cleared from the streets during the annual drive initiated by the Municipality. The total number of abandoned vehicles removed throughout the four-day campaign last year was 58.

Held under the theme ‘Communities Care for Nature’, the Clean up the World 2010 drive also resulted in volunteers dismantling nine sea going vessels dumped on the outskirts of the Al Jadaf dry dock area.

Ali said the dhows, made of wood and fibre, were left behind in the area by manufacturing companies which relocated to elsewhere.

“We had already given them warnings to remove these old dhows from this area. But, these were still lying around. They were not just an eyesore, there were so many rats and pests inside them,” he said.

About 150 volunteers from private companies helped in transporting the remains of the vessels — weighing around 450 tonnes after being demolished by excavators and shovels — to the dump yard in Al Ghusais.

The second day of the campaign also saw the launch of two trash skimmers — vessels specialised in cleaning up water channels. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General, Dubai Municipality launched the skimmers at Al Warq-4 beach. — sajila@khaleejtimes.com