Jeddah’s sewage problem is getting worse every day. In some neighborhoods, sewers overflow so frequently that whole streets are flooded for days, cutting off houses, forcing businesses to close temporarily and threatening an environmental disaster. Responsibility hangs in the air with no one willing to admit guilt and instead pointing fingers at various others. The municipality denies responsibility, saying this or that company is to blame while the companies complain of bureaucracy which kept their financial dues locked away in the safes of the Ministry of Finance, thus keeping them from moving ahead with their contracted obligations.
We do not yet know if the newly established Ministry of Water is to inherit this dubious legacy or be absolved of responsibility until further notice. The tragedy has already happened with the entire city threatened with disaster despite the billions spent over the last 30 years. In a city such as Cairo whose population is easily twice or perhaps three times Jeddah’s, you seldom encounter overflowing sewers.
Why then is such a disgrace so common in Jeddah where only a tenth of the money meant to be spent on sewage has in fact been spent.
What became of the other nine-tenths? As citizens and residents of Jeddah, do we have the right to ask where all the money has gone? What has become of every single riyal earmarked for sewage projects? Do we have the right to lodge a collective complaint with the Court of Grievances to call to account previous city administrations which are seemingly at fault? Reform is not a word to be forgotten and instructions issued with the best of intentions should be followed up until it is certain that they are being followed and implemented.
We must find the answers for our failures to solve this problem and similar mistakes never allowed to be repeated.
- Arab News From the Local Press 1 May 2003
