News

Dubai, 02 June 2020:

Various sectors of the Dubai Municipality successfully prepared and implemented its strategic plans to ensure the smooth, flexible, and effective flow of work during the days of Eid Al Fitr 2020. The Municipality managed, thanks to the concerted efforts of workers in its various sectors, to enhance its various practices, whether in the monitoring procedures or in providing different services.

During the days of Eid Al Fitr 2,743 small and large livestock were slaughtered in Dubai abattoirs, which had launched a set of initiatives aimed at motivating and encouraging community members, partners, livestock traders, butchers, and meat distributors to use smart applications to take advantage of the various services that are provided in this field. Dubai abattoirs had also equipped places to create an ideal environment for preparing meat after the veterinary examination, the slaughter of livestock and the final veterinary examination before they are delivered to customers’ homes, without the need for the customer to come to the abattoirs in support of the “Stay Home” initiative.

Initiatives included the launch of the Smart apps, in partnership and coordination with the private sector, companies, distributors, and livestock and meat traders. The smart apps were used by the customers to request the services of slaughtering cattle and preparing meat during Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr and delivering them to homes. The customers submitted their service requests through smart channels such as the “Al Mawashi” app, “Turki” app, “Shabab Al Freej” app, and the “Dhabayih Aldaar” app.

The initiatives also included the service to examine and slaughter livestock, meat processing and final veterinary check for livestock dealers who communicate with customers by phone and deliver meat to homes, in addition to the initiative to perform initial checks, slaughter, and veterinary checks of calves and cows for Al Rawabi Company and to provide a suitable place in the waterfront market, with the aim of preparing and cutting meat and delivering it to homes and butcheries, besides preparing meat for Al Anoud Livestock Trading Company that delivers meat to Carrefour, charity organizations and meat sales outlets as well as to homes.

These smart initiatives help to achieve the goals of Dubai Municipality in the field of strengthening preventive efforts aimed at preserving the health and safety of all members of the society and applying all precautionary measures to contribute to curbing the spread of the Coronavirus and maintaining the safety of community members and workers in abattoirs during Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr days.

The initiatives also aim to achieve organizational flexibility by transforming challenges into opportunities to develop ways of providing service to the public, while ensuring the sustainability of providing services and strengthening means of cooperation with the private sector, as well as reducing the number of visitors to service centers and enhancing Dubai’s position as a city abundant with smart services in various fields.

It also contributed to reducing traffic congestion and achieving the environmental goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions (carbon footprint) by reducing vehicle congestion between the Cattle Market and the abattoirs.  The initiatives helped in reducing livestock deaths while waiting for their turn and reducing the phenomenon of roaming butchers and preserving public health, and helping customers by providing high-quality services to all members of the community, including citizens and residents, and delivering the service to homes, and cutting down waiting hours and increasing the speed in providing services.

It is worth noting that the Dubai Municipality has been keen to apply all preventive efforts aimed at preserving the health and safety of all members of the society by ensuring that the abattoirs abide by the various health requirements in the field of cleaning and disinfection. The frequency of cleaning and disinfection operations for the facilities was increased. The reception area, the cash counter, the area to download livestock, waiting chairs, the tables at the outer hall, meat delivery area, mosque, wheelchairs, door handles, toilets and meat carriages were disinfected, in addition to providing hand sanitizers in separate places in the abattoirs. Sterilization operations are conducted on an ongoing basis for all abattoirs in Dubai.

Signboards were set up at the abattoirs to implement the policy of social distancing and leaving safe spaces between the butchers and workers and the customers. All personal protection equipment was provided for the employees, which reflects the interest of the Dubai Municipality in ensuring the safety of workers and customers in these abattoirs providing them with the highest levels of protection and precaution for them.

Dubai Municipality also succeeded in implementing the plan of action for cleaning the city during the Eid Al Fitr period, which included a number of programs focused on intensifying field supervision efforts in implementing cleaning work for all areas, including markets, water channels, and beaches. The emergency teams dealt with 82 complaint reports during the Eid holidays, and all were done in record time.

Through the Jebel Ali Hazardous Waste Treatment Facility, the Municipality managed to treat more than 107 tons of hazardous medical waste during Eid Al Fitr holidays around the clock, by means of the central medical waste treatment systems designated for that. The facility treated 35.043 tons of general medical waste and 72.506 tons of medical waste contaminated with the Coronavirus.

The Municipality also prepared and implemented a special program for the Eid Al Fitr holidays, with the aim of ensuring the cleanliness of highways in the emirate, consisting of three shifts to follow up and accomplish emergency communications. A special team consisting of three supervisors was formed, in addition to 25 cleaning workers, and five modern equipment and boats equipped to perform these tasks. In addition to that, the Municipality also implemented a special program for cleaning the Dubai Creek, Al Jaddaf, Business Bay Canal, Dubai Water Channel, Deira Harbor Channel, and the surrounding water channels, in addition to cleaning beaches. The Municipality also enhanced cooperation with its strategic partner RTA in restricting rainwater collection, sand removal on external roads, and some vital streets.

The Dubai Municipality also strengthened its monitoring efforts on relevant economic activities during Ramadan and the Eid Al Fitr holidays, with the aim of ensuring that all economic establishments and activities supervised by the Dubai Municipality comply with the application of health and safety standards. Precautionary measures were prepared and circulated to all establishments through electronic and smart systems to the owners of these establishments and also published on Dubai Municipality social media channels, and the relevant circulars were published through the Municipality website.

The Municipality distributed the inspectors to various areas of the emirate by assigning them with the establishments according to their activities in order to ensure their commitment to the requirements. In the event of non-compliance with the precautionary procedures, fines were issued and the violating establishments were closed. They were clarified about the precautionary measures that must be followed and adhered to and also followed up to verify their commitment.

The most prominent violations that were monitored included the lack of commitment to take appropriate health measures, the lack of commitment to wear masks and gloves, non-compliance with the social distancing of 2 meters, lack of signboards for organizing social distancing, insufficient number of hand sanitizers, and non-compliance with temperature measurement for customers.

A total of 51,888 inspection visits were carried out on establishments with relevant activities, and 754 non-compliant establishments were closed. The visits included the following activities: men’s and women’s salons, laundries, outlets selling and handling consumer items such as pharmacies, perfume stores, personal care and cosmetics, food establishments of various types, malls, markets, commercial establishments, and walking tracks. The supervisory staff included 246 inspection officers, safety engineers, controllers, and supervisors.