Sharjah needs Dubai’s help over traffic problems

Readers say Dubai should help Sharjah to overcome its traffic conundrum. Other topics: callousness, home insurance, building fires, bus stops

Readers say Sharjah cannot ease traffic congestion without Dubai’s cooperation. Sarah Dea / The National

I wonder why Sharjah will have to think about ways to ease traffic congestion, as Fatima Al Shamsi suggests in her opinion article Sharjah needs fresh thinking about its traffic problems (February 25). The majority of the people living in that emirate work in Dubai. Sharjah is helping them with affordable housing. So it's Dubai that should help Sharjah to alleviate its traffic problems.

Shafi Mohammed, Dubai

The solution is to build affordable housing in Jebel Ali, Dubai Investment Park and even in Abu Dhabi.

Mat Kennedy, Dubai

Extend the Dubai Metro to Sharjah. Build more affordable housing in various parts of Dubai. These are the only solutions.

Jeffrey Martin, Dubai

Height of callousness

I am astonished to know that some parents can be so negligent and careless that they can leave their children behind in taxis [What's small, wears nappies and is left in a taxi? (Hint: it's not a tip), February 24]. This is the height of absent-mindedness.

The child could have died had he been sleeping and not found by the taxi driver in time. The parents were fortunate to have been reunited with their little one. This is so shameful.

Name withheld by request

Why we don’t buy insurance

Given the increase in the number of fire-related incidents in this country, it is wise to insure homes and their contents so that people affected by mishaps do not lose everything (Just 6 per cent of UAE residents take out home insurance, February 22).

However, most people are aware of the benefits of insuring their homes, but cannot do so due to financial constraints – they are struggling to make ends meet.

Fatima Suhail, Sharjah

I think most people are sceptical about insurance companies actually paying up – especially for personal belongings, such as clothes and shoes. This is why they don’t buy insurance.

Selina Dixon, Dubai

One of the reasons for not buying insurance is that insurance companies will not always honour a claim without seeing the original receipt of every item claimed. Who keeps the receipts of everything in their house? After I discovered this, I cancelled my insurance with a leading French insurance company.

Zaki Anderson, Abu Dhabi

Focus on the real tragedy

All the attention of the mainstream media has been on the fire at the Torch building on February 21, instead of the fire at a warehouse in Mussaffah that was illegally converted into a workers' accommodation (Fire rips through Dubai's Marina Torch residential tower, February 22). To put it in perspective, it was reported that the Mussaffah warehouse fire resulted in 10 deaths and eight injuries, while nobody died from the fire at The Torch tower, although seven people suffered from mild smoke inhalation.

This is a stark example of how societies prefer to focus on relatively minor problems affecting affluent residents, rather than graver tragedies suffered by lower-class individuals.

I, for one, would like to see more news coverage on the outcomes of the Mussaffah fire, the people who were affected by it, as well as what’s being done to hold the building’s owner/operator accountable for his unlawful actions.

Frank J Ciampa, Abu Dhabi

Bus stops should be inspected

Thank you for highlighting the need to keep our city's bus stops clean (Clean cities not cleaned enough, February 24).

That’s not the only problem. There are some covered bus stops where doors are damaged. They should be inspected regularly.

Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi

Earlier, the municipality was directly involved in all cleaning work. Now private companies are contracted to do the job. This partly explains why Abu Dhabi’s bus shelters are often dirty.

Ayyathan Radhakrishnan, Abu Dhabi