‘Complaints on 940 not properly dealt with’

JEDDAH – Jeddah Municipal Council has accused the mayoralty of closing many petitions submitted by citizens through Telephone No. 940 without solving their problems. It also criticized that petitions passed through 940 were not reaching the concerned authorities. The mayoralty should have contacted the person who submitted the petition before the closing the file of that petition, a council member told Al-Madina. The council also noticed that the petitioner is unable to contact the department that closes the file of petition. The council urged the municipality to restructure its 940 service by setting up a specialized administrative unit for closing petitions and take speedy measures to solve the various problems facing citizens and residents. “We have noticed considerable delay in reaching a petition to the concerned department to take action, if it was passed through the communications center,” said a report issued by the council. A petition will be registered under the telephone number of the caller. The communication center will call back the petitioner on that number and if the person did not respond the file will be closed. If the petition is related to parties outside the municipality, especially the department to coordinate projects, the file is closed without making sure whether the problem is solved or not. “There are several cases in which files have been closed without solving problems,” the report said. There is no external supervising agency to ensure the quality of such closures, it added. Spelling out its recommendations to improve services offered through 940, the council said the whole service should be restructured to streamline services, avoiding complaints of the public. “The council’s recommendations should be transformed into viable joint working programs,” the official said. “The Jeddah governorate should set out a strategic plan to develop its file with the mayoralty and its follow-up mechanisms,” he added. The council noticed long delay in responding to notifications related to encroachment on public land. “It often takes months and the mayoralty would not inform the caller about the measures taken by it to retrieve the public land illegally occupied by individuals. People often complain about leakage of drinking water, surfacing of sewage water, destruction of road, poor cleaning and maintenance of parks and environment pollution.