The areas that are a cause of increasing concern are mainly in Doha and include Umm Ghuwailina, Najma, Al Mansoura, Al Ghanem and Doha Jadeed, according to the vice chairman of the CMC, Jassem Al Malki.
People (read tenants) usually dump things on the rooftops of buildings mostly for resale later, but tend to forget them over time, Al Malki told a local Arabic daily recently.
On his proposal, the CMC last month took up the issue of rooftops, particularly of old buildings in these and other areas, including some suburbs, for a threadbare discussion and called for corrective action.
The CMC said that more than being a matter of how pathetic old neighbourhoods looked from high-rise towers, helicopters and planes, the issue needed to be treated as one that involved the safety of the environment and people.
There seems to be some confusion about who is responsible for keeping rooftops clean and hazard-free.
Some people believe that while the municipality is responsible for keeping public areas clean and can take action against building owners and tenants if there is litter outside the premises, there is no law to fix responsibility for using rooftops as dumping spaces.
Legal circles told The Peninsula that a law (No. 29) was passed in 2006 to regulate the upkeep of buildings and executive regulations to help enforce it were put in place through a civic ministerial decision (No. 33) in 2008.
According to the law, it is the responsibility of each municipality to monitor the condition and upkeep of buildings in its jurisdiction and report the matter to a specialist committee at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning in case of irregularities, including littering on rooftops.
The panel has the legal authority to take action against a building found flouting safety and upkeep rules as it deems fit and haul its owners or tenants over the coals.
The legislation says that buildings that spoil the landscape and beauty of an area also attract its provisions.
The panel is also responsible for taking appropriate action if buildings are old, dilapidated and abandoned, or left incomplete.
Buildings that are neglected and used by children as play areas, or house criminals and runaway workers, or used for immoral activities, or infested by rodents and stray animals also fall within the jurisdiction of the committee although the criminal aspects related to activities carried out in such premises, including storage of weapons and explosives, are to be probed by law-enforcement agencies.
The law assumes immense significance, especially as some rooftops, particularly in expatriate-dominated working-class localities, are used as makeshift accommodation for labourers.
However, it is not known if any municipality has ever been informed of irregularities in its jurisdiction, although the CMC insists that buildings whose rooftops remain littered with all kinds of waste — some of them hazardous — are galore, particularly in Doha.
According to observers, one thing is sure that since the CMC has raised the issue, the authorities are expected to act and take corrective measures.
A prominent CMC member, Mohammed Mehmood Al Shafi, who represents New Al Rayyan, said the issue of littered rooftops should not be treated in isolation.
It is a problem whose root cause is a mix of factors, among them rising population of the country, a severe lack of accommodation for low-income workers after they were legally banned from residential localities, escalating house rents and limited-income expatriate families sharing accommodations in illegally partitioned villas and old apartments.
“If we want that the issue of littered rooftops be taken up seriously for remedial measures, the CMC must first conduct an extensive and in-depth study of what is causing the problem,” Al Shafi said.
More workers are expected to arrive to engage in mega development projects amid a shortage of labour camps after they have been banned in residential areas.
“So where do the workers go?” wondered Al Shafi.
Employers are, therefore, forced to accommodate them on building rooftops as a temporary arrangement.
Then, there are limited-income expatriate families that are also proliferating due to the economic boom. Rents are high so many of them are forced to share accommodation.
“Now, if 10 families live in a villa that is actually meant for one, there is bound to be all kinds of problems — pressure on the utilities, including electricity and water and on the building — for it is meant to support a particular load,” the CMC member said, who insisted that his constituency didn’t have the problem of littered rooftops.
He said the issue of shared accommodations was serious and needed to be looked into by the authorities concerned after the CMC had conducted a study. “I call on the CMC to launch the study and urge the civic ministry to take remedial measures.”
The municipal minister can in turn take up the issue with the State Cabinet. “So before we call for clean rooftops, its causes need to be looked into and corrective steps need to be taken.”
Another CMC member, Ahmed Al Sheeb, from Umm Salal, said that building owners should think beyond just collecting rents from tenants and pay attention to the premises, their use, safety and upkeep.
“What can the municipalities do? The onus lies with the owners.”
