In the pictures, the sparkling blue waters of the Arabian gulf surround the first homes to be built on Yas, a pleasure paradise built on a man-made island on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. The first residents will live among temples to leisure: the Formula One circuit, golf courses, waterparks, malls and a Ferrari World theme park.

Since April 2015, four white frames have been ascending from pits in the ground. These residential buildings will contain more than 500 apartments, complete with barbeque areas, infinity pools, gyms and function rooms for prices starting at £148,331 for 53 square metres.

For now they are skeletons of breeze blocks and iron scaffolding attended to by thousands of workers, employed by contractors racing to get the project finished in the next year.

John, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, is one of these thousands of men. He travelled from Africa to Abu Dhabi on the promise of a job and a salary that exceeded anything he could earn at home.

John was hired in his home country in Africa, by a representative from a construction firm. The firm that hired him had been contracted by Canadian company Ellisdon on behalf of Aldar Properties, a real estate development company with headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

The representative promised him a skilled job as a mould maker in Abu Dhabi for a salary of £770 a month, plus good accommodation, medical insurance and a food allowance. When John arrived in Abu Dhabi, the reality was very different.

His day starts at 6am, in Mussaffa on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, when he stumbles out of a dorm crammed with bunk-beds and lined by power outlets to wait his turn to use the toilet, which is shared with the eight other men in the room. When there is time to cook, they use a dingy, slim kitchen with an overflowing rubbish bin and basic gas stoves to heat food. But there often isn't time. The bus for Yas Island leaves at 6am.

Once they are at the site of the Ansam project, the workers put in 11 hour shifts with an hour off for lunch in backbreaking conditions, with no medical insurance should something go wrong.

An artist's impression of the Ansam residential project on Yas Island (Aldar)

“The temperature in this country right now is piercing and we still work. I have family back home but most depends on me for support and that's why I left my job and took the offer in the first place because of the promise of a huge salary,” John told the Independent.

Instead of the £770 a month he was promised, John is paid a basic salary of £129 plus a housing and transport allowance of £83, for a total of £212 a month. He said that some people earn less.

According to Human Rights Watch, payment is the biggest issue facing migrant workers in the UAE.

“Workers are not paid what they were promised,” Nicholas McGeehan, researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the Independent.

“Then you have this system of Kefala, which ties the workers to their employer so when things go wrong they can’t leave, they could be arrested for absconded. They may not have their passport. Add in recruitment fees. All of these measures in combination are toxic.”

A migrant worker on the Ansam site in an eight-man dorm in Mussaffa, Abu Dhabi

A clause in John's contract means that workers have to pay their sponsor back if they want to get of their jobs before a six month “probation” is complete. He said he had made inquiries at the labour ministry about cancelling his contract and was told that he could only do so if his employer agreed.

"Many people are just stranded here, languishing," John said. "Many people (I included) left their jobs for a false promise of a lucrative job offers with mouth-watering remuneration only to meet a different story altogether and so going home becomes another nightmare."

If he cancelled the contract without consent, he would be sent home. This would be a disaster for John, who said that he cannot afford to return home. His only option is to try and get released from his contract so he can find work elsewhere in the kingdom.

A migrant worker on a bunkbed in an eight-man dorm in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi

The UAE doesn’t have an exit visa system and many migrant workers owe money to recruiters in their home countries. Some borrow money from a local loan shark to pay for the ticket over, putting their families at risk if they don’t earn the money that they need to pay back.

EllisDon, a Canadian construction services company, manages the contract for the Ansam residential project on Yas Island.

Wissam Ayoub, vice president of the Middle East region at EllisDon, said that it would review conditions for workers on the site.

“We believe in the fair treatment of all people involved in the projects we engage in,” Mr Ayoub said.

He said EllisDon would review the conditions of workers on the Ansam site “and take action as required to ensure that they are following the UAE's labour laws.”

Twenty-four migrant workers share one kitchen in squalid conditions to prepare food after they return from an 11-hour day on a construction site

The Independent has seen contracts and pay slips showing that workers were not offered more than they were paid by the construction company in the UAE. However John said that a third party in Nigeria had promised him higher wages.

The contractor said that overtime was also paid to staff.

The UAE has made some improvements to laws protecting migrant workers, but many of these aren’t enforced or don’t go far enough to protect the vulnerable, Human Rights Watch said.

The Ansam project is the first residential project on Yas Island

Construction work in the gulf dropped off after the financial crisis. But the appetite for growth has returned and with it more migrants are being tempted by the promise of work.

“The gulf states shop around looking for a good deal: workers who are cheap and pliant and whose governments who are not going to kick up a fuss if their workers aren’t treated well,” McGeehan from Human Rights Watch said.

More of these workers are coming from African countries like Kenya and Uganda, he said, where originally they would have come from Asia.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Once they arrive they are trapped: unable to buy their freedom and return home.

“Going home now for me is not an option because there will be no job for me and I spent all my savings to get here,” John said.