lullabelle

It's a fair whack to the corniche and you will be driving with the traffic. It depends what you what. I did a fairly long daily commute in Abu dhabi and I hated it. The driving is awful. I actually preferred the commute from Dubai to abu dhabi. My original commute (which was corniche to mussafah industrial-right-at-the-******-end) there was always a lot of traffic coming onto the island and the usual stupid number of accidents.

Have you got kids? Because then where you live will be a massive factor. Better to be nearer the school. We lived in a great building on the corniche in khalidiya with a swimming pool on the roof and it was a fab area to live - walkable to restaurants and bars, shops, the beach across the road. It was great for my other half too. He would have hated to have been stuck out on a compound in the middle of the boondocks.

Personally I'd pick location over space... But that might not be what floats your boat.

dono

Definitely excellent points. We really liked the amenities in Sas Al Nakhl and I was told that the Salam tunnel will open in a few months and it'll be a breeze to get to the Corniche. Right now I'm thinking of taking Khaleej Arabi st to get to and from the compound, I may save like 10 or 15 min than taking Airport rd or Salam st. We don't have a school yet for he kids but may be looking for sth in KCA or Raha area, or even Mushrif area. I tried the commute to Corniche yesterday and it took me 30 min (instead of 15-20 min from nahyan). I just figured I could live with an extra 10-15 min drive and enjoy a better environment. Hope I'm not wrong...



Have you got kids? Because then where you live will be a massive factor. Better to be nearer the school. We lived in a great building on the corniche in khalidiya with a swimming pool on the roof and it was a fab area to live - walkable to restaurants and bars, shops, the beach across the road. It was great for my other half too. He would have hated to have been stuck out on a compound in the middle of the boondocks.

Personally I'd pick location over space... But that might not be what floats your boat.[/QUOTE]

lullabelle

It's pretty late for school admissions, unless things have changed and there are more school places in AD now. That has to dictate really... The last thing I wanted was too much car time for the kids in the stupid traffic. They got places in Al Muna so that's why we lived in Khalidya. Khaleej al arabi is the most sensible road I reckon, except on a Thursday when it turns into an Arabic Mad Max.

flares

I'm loving the look of Rihan Heights in Zayed Sports City. Had a cycle round ZSC this morning and nosed around the development. Very nicely done.

busybee2

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who told you that salam tunnel will open soon....... they are having major problems with it, it should have been opened 2 years ago!

busybee2

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i would go with nayhan its closer into town, the major traffic jams on any of the roads going outbound are at khalifa park which is close to the junctions you would be coming in and out for SAS, if you go onto airport road, then you have mataq bridge which is a bottleneck with salam st, then you can go over to khaleej al arabi, and of course the major issues there is from the SAS turning all the way over the mussafah bridge and beyond to adnec, once you get past adnec its usually ok, until you hit a traffic jam at 19th.

busybee2

yep khaleej al arabi at rush hour is wacky races weaving in and out they go...... you need to find out a school place first, the last thing you want to add to the already bad traffic where people have got accommodation in town only to find school places off island, you drive up and down the road in different directions many times a day.

there are more schools around in ad than a few years ago when it was really just BSAK, but for the lower years its still very difficult to get in, you have to apply really at the beginning of jan/feb depending on which schools to stand a chance.

dono

I was told that Salam tunnel will open in a few months by an engineer who works for some AD authority and he was pretty sure about his stuff, so that's a big + for SAS. The only thing that worry me about SAS is the infamous high voltage power lines (dunno why the heck they left all that empty desert and put them right next to the compound). I checked on the net and the study that connects them to health problems was done in the 90s and was flawed (leukemia, cancer...). Plus the frequency of the electro magnetic and electric fields is very minimal compared to the earth EMF. I'm not an expert but I think the only problem with those power lines is the beauty of the landscape and the resale value which is not my pb here. I think I could live with that if I choose a zone quite far from that view. I'm thinking zones 7-8-9 for a 4br. What do you think SAS-Nakhleans? good zones or is there better?

csdf

They didn't. They built the compound right next to the power lines. In a similar style, they
a) Built the new Eastern Mangroves resort next to an 8-lane motorway (Salaam St)
b) Built the Western Mangroves luxury development next to an 8-lane motorway (30th)
c) Are building all sorts of residential developments on Saadiyat island next to an 8-lane motorway (the Yas Island Freeway)
d) Love building houses and apartment blocks so close together that you can pretty touch the walls of both buildings at the same time (viz Al Raha Gardens), even when you've got a gazillion hectares of empty space to play with

busybee2

sorry but the pylons have been there for years, it was the compound that was BUILT next to them, the pylons were there first. and yes the section of tunnel that is up around 9th st and beyond should be opening soon, its the section of tunnel next to the "sponge fingers" that has been causing a lot of grief.....

busybee2

same same. yes also the Al Gurm development which they had to pay a lot of money to buy i wouldnt want to be the one on the end, when they decided to build the new ADNOC.

or perhaps the worse one is AD Golf Club where they had spent 10 years letting the golf course "mature" only for a few years down the road, to dig up one half of a course to build Golf Gardens on it..... in the beginning we thought that they would build the houses in amongst the trees, but obviously when they bull dozered all the green stuff it was obviously not their intention, and they could have build those houses on the sand around the golf club.......... thats the worse one here IMO.

soukie

Yes - it's all very sad the way AD is developing - they could do so much better given the space they have. I hate the way they have got rid of some green areas, public beaches and palm trees - it wouldn't have happened in Sheikh Zayed's time!

busybee2

yeh i know, the ladies beach gone near to emirates palace, the ladies beach and the BEACH at raha beach now under construction of hotel and homes. lulu island not allowed to go to (officially). the beach hotel now has a very lovely view....! i could go on.

lullabelle

I wouldn't count on tunnels etc opening. No matter what you have heard. They were building a park outside my apartment before I left. Was supposed to have been finished two months before I left. Six months later, it looks the same half buil shambles it was when I left. Move for what is happenning NOW, for your needs now, never rely on what is promised.

busybee2

hahaha some engineer that works for some AD Authority....... !!!! well any more clues..... because yes it does look like its nearly finished (but then perhaps we dont know anybody here working on such things in abu!!), but have also been hearing rumours that still having issues with the tunnels..... remember there are still 2 lots of tunnels yet to open, perhaps he was referring to 1 and not both...... this project was meant to be open 2 years ago.