Al-Madina

MOST streets in Jeddah used to be paved in a way that allowed people to use them without any problem.

For years now, global warming has been contributing to climate change and every region is affected one way or other. Our city too receives rain on and off unlike before. And the rain damages roads by creating pits and cracks in its aftermath. Layers of asphalt get eroded and potholes damage everyone’s cars. All what it means the rain has succeeded in exposing the poor execution of road projects by the contractors.

Jeddah Municipality is in an embarrassing situation now because it has to carry out the repair work and for this it needs a huge budget, which was something the officials did not take into account when the projects were awarded.

On the other hand, owners of new houses in Jeddah kept asking the power company to supply them with electricity so that they are able to move in there or put them up for sale in the real estate market.

We had no know idea about the strategies of the electricity company until it started connecting the new houses to the power grid. It hired unqualified contractors to carry out the work because they charged less.

Contractors who worked with the electricity company in Jeddah dig up paved streets from the transmission station till in front of the houses to be supplied with power. They dig the roads in a primitive style as if we live in Africa. They dig in different depths with wide and twisted lines at some places and thin and random lines at others.

These contractors dig the streets to lay the power cables that connect the houses with the transmission station. Then they leave the pits open for several days before covering them with a layer of asphalt in a bad and harmful way.

It looks like the municipality is not monitoring the work of the contractors who have ruined the streets of our city. Or may be its supervisors are going easy on the erring contractors.

The electricity company, which has ruined the streets of Jeddah, is responsible for the actions of these unqualified contractors it selected to carry out the work, and it is legally bound to fix the streets that were damaged by their hands.