Rains make a mockery of the Kingdom’s drainage projects

With every rainy season, one of our cities becomes a victim of the rains giving rise to the same cries and complaints of the season before.

November 21, 2013

Abdo Khal

 


Abdo Khal

Okaz

 


 


With every rainy season, one of our cities becomes a victim of the rains giving rise to the same cries and complaints of the season before.



Riyadh has been the first victim of the rainy season this year. The rains caused the death of three people in Riyadh, destroyed cars along the streets, damaged traffic signals and obstructed the flow of traffic. Water flooded government and private sector establishments and created pools in a number of neighborhoods. The rains have exposed the ineffectiveness of  Riyadh’s drainage projects.



Every year, we complain about ineffective drainage systems which have become a problem for every town and city in the Kingdom. Although large sums of money have been spent on these projects,  they still fail to drain the rain and floodwaters.



The government has spent more than SR12 billion on projects to protect towns and cities from floods. If you told any international expert that this much money had been spent on drainage projects in a year or two, he would never believe you. For this amount of money, a sewage network could be built to drain not only rainwater, but the waters of the seas and oceans as well!



Every city has the same problem. What is said about Jeddah can also be said about Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah, Jazan, Abha, Buraidah and Arar.



The residents of these cities complain about the useless drainage systems. The question which should be asked of all municipalities all over the Kingdom is: Why do your multi-million riyal projects always fail? Is it because of negligence or the absence of control? Why do you accept projects which are not executed according to international specifications and standards?



We need a fact-finding committee to investigate every big or small development project in every town and city so as to end corruption. We have not spent billions of riyals on drainage projects so that we can end up drowning in a drop of rainwater.


November 21, 2013
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