Labor camps in Al Quoz will finally get a drainage system to tackle the growing problem of sewage in the area, reports The National. According to the paper, almost 150,000 people live in the area, which  has one of the highest outputs of sewage in Dubai-around 300,000 cubic meters of wastewater each day.

The labor camps currently depend on septic tanks for disposing the waste, and overflowing tanks and stagnating waste are common sights. “Workers have also reported suffering from illnesses caused by exposure to raw sewage,” says the report.

“We hope this will solve the sewage issue in labor camps,” said Talib Julfar, the director of the drainage and irrigation department at Dubai Municipality.

The municipality is hoping to complete the AED86 million ($23.4 million) drainage system in 18 months, says the report.

Earlier this year, the Dubai government had spoken a lot about the strict monitoring of labor camps in the city, especially about the hygiene levels maintained in them. So it seems absurd that camps don’t even have basic sewage facilities. We do appreciate that the camps are finally getting a drainage system now, but shouldn’t it have been a pre-requisite?

There’s always something new to discover about Dubai, it seems.