By Badr Al-Quthami Okaz/Saudi Gazette TAIF — Residents of Anoud, Umm Al-Sibae, Qariya and Umm Al-Qura districts, south of Taif, have been waiting for water and sewage networks for the last 36 years. Finally, when the project was implemented by the National Water Company it created another headache for them. The pipeline for the project was erroneously laid far away from residential buildings and the people were told to pay huge amounts of money to get home connections. We are not ready to pay for the technical mistake committed by the contractor of the water company,” said Awad Al-Rubaiee while speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette. The NWC has been asking residents in the districts to pay SR8,000 to SR18,000 to connect the network with their homes. Residents wonder why the company asks them to pay for the mistake committed by the contractor. Most of them belong to the limited income group and will not be able to pay the amount. For the last 36 years we have been asking the authorities to solve the sewage problem in Umm Al-Sibae District and when it was implemented we were shocked to know that it has this technical fault, Al-Rubaiee explained. The authorities approved the project in 1427 Hijra year, about 12 years ago. Our happiness did not last long as the project was executed slowly and stopped when it reached the final phase. The contracting company disappeared four years ago. When people approached the NWC to complete the project, they were told to pay service charges of up to SR18,000, he said. Suhail Al-Thubaiti added: When we asked the company why we were required to pay such huge amounts for home connections, they said part of the amount would go to the contracting company for installing additional pipelines to their homes.” He said the contracting company should have installed the pipelines close to their homes to avoid this additional payment and reduce the financial burden on citizens. Muhsin Al-Khudaidi, another resident, also refused to pay the money, saying it should be paid by the contracting company. Mohammed Al-Duwaibi, Faiz Al-Rubaiee, Jarallah Al-Dahmani also took a similar stand. We should not be asked to pay this amount for the contractor's fault, Al-Khudaidi said.