Cheapest is bestest?

Quality
What follows might stand as an example of how the UAE looks at quality generally and how people treat their public amenities.
About a year ago the local authorities in Ajman refurbished the beach area along the corniche. They put in a new pedestrian path, created a lot of free parking, installed benches to sit out on and fenced off a couple of dangerous areas with attractive new railings.
For a few weeks it looked very smart and very nice.
The first thing that happened was a couple of the benches began to break up and the problem was threefold – cheap, low grade, no maintenance.
The major problem was these benches are of the normal domestic kind that in the UK or US you might buy in a Garden Centre or DIY store. They are made of aluminium and wood.
Critically for this story they are designed to be in a private garden space with occasional gentle use by a proud family. They are not designed for constant use by tourists, kids, chaps hanging around watching the football, jumping on, eating picnics on for a family of six, having coffee poured over them, having fast food dropped on and ground in and never being maintained.
So now the paint has worn off, many slats are broken, some decorative swirls are snapped off and many benches have come loose from their moorings.
In short they are decorative but relatively fragile. Most importantly though they are cheap compared to the industrial version. And never given even the most basic of cleaning or maintenance.
So within months the promenade had broken down benches.
Then the railings started to go. These too are of a quality more suited to a private garden rather than a robust urban seaside environment. They are aluminium and covered in a single coat of domestic grade paint. They have unsafe and fragile protuberances many of which are now breaking off. And they are attached to the concrete or brick with small shallow fixings and non-stainless steel bolts. Right next to the ocean.
Many sections have not stayed fixed. Nor have they been re-fixed. This means that neighbouring sections are also now coming loose and the whole process is speeding up.
Entropy increases.
Because there is no maintenance the debris of broken benches and railings are left on the beach or the walkways. They are used to build paths from the promenade to the beach so people can avoid a 20-metre walk to the steps…
They attract litter – people are sloppy about littering here – which also doesn’t get cleaned up. Lately I’ve seen rats in the debris.
The odd thing to me is the city has the beach cleaned daily. I’ve mentioned littering above.
But troops of men come daily and fill sacks with rubbish so the beach remains as clean as any public beach can though they will leave behind the bigger debris. If – as happens surprisingly often – someone dumps an old car part or piece of furniture then that may stay for a month or more as will a sack of rubbish not filled by the council’s own workers. Residents would not dream of clearing something themselves.
I kinda understand why the low paid expat workers can’t be bothered. I’m totally bemused as to why the local Emiratis won’t do anything for themselves. They seem content to wallow in mess if it isn’t cleared for them.
So there you have it. If it looks ok on day one that’s good enough. If it falls apart quickly that’s good enough. If it’s dangerous but looks ok that’s good enough. If it’s barely functional but cheap it’s a good deal. If everything has to be replaced after 18 months that’s ok. They were cheap. That’s good enough.
Very depressing.