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Say Whaaat?! Calming, clean-aired Karama?!

October 11, 2011 2:30 by shafeer

Karama is a lot of things to me. For starters it really is a great place for dining out and it is easy on the wallet too. If you are a bargain hunter, it is also an excellent shopping haven. Being one of the oldest residential blocks in Dubai, it is also provides excellent quality and affordable handymen: from carpenters, painters and cobblers, etc.

But the one thing I would never have credited Karama for is the quality of its air. And yet, the UAE’s Air Quality Index (AQI) recently published a report by the UAE Air Quality Monitoring Network that found Karama has “one of the best air quality readings in the UAE” – 16 on the AQI scale.

In the words of Stewie, Say Whaaaat?! Karama is one of the best air quality in the UAE? Really?

Karama, where the traffic jams can make even the most patient man irate? Karama where cars double park over doubled parked cars? Karama, one of the most congested part of town?

And if there wasn’t reason enough for my suspicious leanings, did you know the study found the Safa area (where there’s a huge flora-filled park and a less dense residential area) and its surroundings to have the worst air quality in Dubai: Safa has an AQI of 140, while Deira ranks much lower at 83.

If Karama’s air is considered to be good quality air, what does that say about the rest of the city? That we’re all doomed to adapting our lungs to toxic dust-filled air? Maybe the text measures the amount of sand particles in the air too then. Wide open spaces of which Karama does not have a lot of may contain more of this natural debris, hence the high rating. Whatever the criteria, I demand a recount. Or at least a retelling of how the Index ended up with this conclusion. You know what they say, if it’s too good to be true…then it probably is. Karama, with all its rich history does not a good air quality make.

I wonder how UAE’s Index compares with the rest of the GCC. How would our A/C vents, cars and construction debris fare against our neighbours. We’re putting our money on the near-pristine air of Oman.

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