Heart of Deira – Naif Road

Start with the Deira Corniche, the Hyat Regency parallel to Corniche which is the heart of Deira. Towards its mouth, on the east side is the cluttered Naif Road with jam-packed traffic. The word Naif is derived from Arabic Language meaning excessive or surplus. Well the name fits right to the road due to the excessive traffic and furniture shops.

New Kuwaiti Building

Being the resident of New Kuwaiti Building located between the Emirates Petrol Station and Futtaim Mosque which is the major landmark of history I happen to enjoy the hustle and bustle of this street. Opposite to New Kuwaiti is the rambling Mr. Majid Al Futtaim villa, the founder and president of Majid Al Futtaim group in Dubai which is again the famous attraction for the explorer.

Lorena, persoanl assistant at Debaj Furniture

Adjacent to the Futtaim Mosque lays the hubbub of interior decorators selling curtains, carpets, wallpapers and other house hold decors. The famous Debaj Furniture set its foot in 1995. “We deal in curtains, sofa, majlis, wall papers, laminated flooring and other household decors. We have 8 branches running in Dubai situated in Satwa, AL Qusais and AL Warqa. The amount of variety for house decors you will not be able to find anywhere else in Dubai except on Naif Road” says Lorena, personal assistant of Managing Director.

Mr. Alan

Approximately there are 25 furniture traders are located in this road all of them dealing in similar stuff. When asked about the business to the manager of Al Faris Furniture Mr. Alan, he said, “The older shops are till now very famous and the customers trust us. They compare the quality and prices and find few designs which are unique and are not available everywhere.”

Famous for its splendid designs of carpets and curtains which are equally well-known among Asians and locals are in demand because for its cheap rates and humongous amount of choices, yet the eventful Naif street terrorizes drivers as it is crammed with cars on both side of the road allowing vehicles to move on a very petite speed. The main reason of traffic on this street during peak hours is that the road from north connects to Bur Dubai and from the south wing connects the Sharjah road.

Along the end of the Naif Road another famous landmark situated was Naif Park which acquired its name after the popularity of the road. The Park which was the main attraction for small children during theisis evenings was unfortunately demolished during the start of the Metro Project for building the station. Ahead of Naif Park, is the Naif Police Station, it is the main headquarter and controls the management of different police stations in Deira. Behind the police station was the old famous Naif Souq was the main shopping spree for the tourist was burned down a year ago and shattered the dreams of many traders due to the heavy loss faced by them.

Reaching to the heart of Deira – Naif Road was not difficult 20 years ago but now with the growing development of street made the situation worst to travel on this road. Cab drivers are never ready to board the passengers who want to reach Naif Road. Seeing this condition Public Transport Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched two new bus routes to Naif road, according to Khaleej Times report on 24th September, 2007.

The first one, called C1, links Zabeel Park area with Dubai International Airport (Terminal 2), and the other one, called X25, links Dubai Marina with the new headquarters of Public Transport Agency. Making the life easier for travelers the recent Metro station known as Union Station is situated only about 2 kilometers from Naif Road, so that anyone could reach easily.

Bus No X25 at Naif road

Well being the most historic in the history of Dubai, Naif road still have not lost its gleam and popularity among the tourist as well as its local and expat population and constraint of everything which is on the wish list of every traveler ranging from a small cafeteria to Dubai’s dazzling gold souq located few kilometers ahead of Naif Road.