Blight to briaht

Buildings that fell into disuse and decay are abundant in both urban and rural areas throughout the Sultanate.

While abandoned houses in Oman’s villages are a major attraction to visitors and are the only way to have a glimpse of its historical past, many of them in the capital city of Muscat have deteriorated to the level that they have become not only an eyesore to the city but are also posing increased risk to people’s health and safety.

Abandoned properties have long plagued many of the old residential neighbourhoods in the capital and the reasons behind them are many and some of which are benign.

The government in cooperation with private builders has spent millions of rials for expanding existing towns or building new ones, partly because of changing economic structures and the trend of people moving to new settlements.

While citizens have moved to newly built residential areas because of modern facilities available in these clusters, most of the old buildings were rented out to expats.

As proper maintenance is not done on these buildings, many of them have been abandoned by the occupants leaving it to the responsibility of the civic authorities.

It is considered that the average life of an apartment is 50-60 years while of a house it is 40 years. Independent home ages much slower than an apartment building, where the amenities and common services are shared among the society residents. Their lifespan can be improved by carrying out regular maintenance.

Water pipelines, power cables and other allied services get degraded over time and worn out after a fixed period of time. Apart from this, window and door openings, poor construction quality, waterproofing, painting, layouts of plumbing also result in ageing of a home before time.

Abandoned houses lead to many problems as they offer a safe haven for stray animals, insects and rodents, and unwanted harmful plants. Unpleasant odour from the accumulation of waste in abandoned homes can cause concerns or psychological discomfort to residents.

Indications from Muscat Municipality are that the department concerned is studying the current conditions of old buildings and will start issuing notices either for their demolitions or renovations.

“Officials will inspect old buildings and those not complying with safety regulations will have to face the consequences,” a municipality official told the Observer.

The civic law stipulates that all old or unused buildings should be surrounded by a wall or a fence. The municipality has the right to warn owners to remove them and clean the sites completely or remove them through an administrative decision, with the costs recovered from the parties.

According to the official, abandoned buildings negatively affect the image of cities and their residential neighbourhoods.

In addition, he said they also pose risk of collapse endangering life and limb of people.