Mohammad Al-Malki
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JAZAN — Mount Uthwan Road in Al-Dayer Bani Malik collapsed due to heavy floods a few days ago.
Al-Dayer Governor Mohammad Al-Shamrani said the region is known for unstable and unpredictable weather due to its peculiar topography.
“The contractors who built the road did not take into account the topography of the location. Mount Uthwan Road crosses Al-Juwah Valley. The contractor did not take into account that the valley descends from the apex of the mountain and is notorious for heavy floods when it rains,” said Al-Shamrani.
He also said Mount Uthwan Road was open for six months only and had already collapsed alongside several other new construction projects.
“The most affected area is the eastern part of the governorate. The municipality has called the contractor for questioning over the poor execution of the project. We contacted the Traffic Department for a temporary fix but no response was received,” said Al-Shamrani.
He also said the governorate is pushing the municipality to hire another contractor to reconstruct the project.
“The road must be built away from the valley. Mount Uthwan Road connects several villages and is considered one of the region's vital arteries. It is extremely unwise to build such an important road over a valley. The contractor should have taken into account the absence of a drainage system in the area and the probability of heavy flooding during rain,” said Al-Shamrani.
He also said citizens called on the Ministry of Transport to interfere and repair the damaged road.
“The project cost millions of riyals but the contractor executed it poorly. The planning of the road was poor and even after constructing it, there were no cement barriers on the edges of the road even though it is a mountain road. There weren’t any signs on the road to guide the drivers,” said Al-Shamrani.
