A letter to His Excellency the Minister of Communications:

Permit me, your excellency, to begin this by admitting that a feeling of embarrassment and shame gripped me the instant I picked up my pen to begin writing. I felt ashamed for no reason other than that my subject — safety on the Taif-Baha highway — has been written about so many times.

People have been talking, writing and thinking about the problem for a very long time indeed; and still there is no solution in sight. It is as if everything that had been written and said on the subject had been put into a bottle, closed securely and then thrown into the sea to sink to the bottom.

The 250-kilometer road linking Taif and Baha has become a real hazard; the number of people killed since it was built exceeds the number killed in some wars.

Your excellency, why is it that a ministry capable of building a modern highway network is incapable of putting a stop to the horrors and sufferings on one particular stretch of that network? A doctor who finds a patient suffering from a disease that is spreading to every part of his body would begin to think seriously of amputation as a solution. This — and this exactly — is what may have to be done regarding this road.

I suggest that the 250 kilometers be divided into five equal segments with a specific company being responsible for each one. Each company would maintain its segment to high safety standards which would obviously include doing regular maintenance. As for financing, this could be done either by donations or allowing the private sector to build the road and then collect tolls to recoup the investment.

The idea of launching a campaign for donations which would save people’s lives is appealing. The media should certainly involve itself and provide the needed information and publicity. If, on the other hand, the ministry decided to invite private firms to build the road and then collect tolls, the response would probably be overwhelming. I respectfully hope that my letter will not end up at the bottom of a metaphorical sea as so many others have. Many of us have dreamed of the day when the carnage along the Taif-Baha road would end. Is it not time for these dreams to become reality?

13 October 2002