A recent newspaper report informed us that Jeddah would soon be a dream city where skyscrapers would tower on the upper infrastructure even before the basic infrastructure had been completed. The numerous ditches and bumps have made Jeddah a global city.
The report said the municipality would contribute to the cleanliness of the city and the ditches via satellite. What great news for the residents. A satellite for the sake of their black or brown eyes? What is the story behind this sudden attention given to the bumps?
The report quoted the municipality as saying that it received a total of 715 complaints about ditches during Ramadan and dealt with them, making it a 100 percent accomplishment. The municipality did not forget to criticize residents for not informing it about ditches and bumps.
I have to remind the municipality of a press statement made by one of its officials five months ago that it had covered 46,174 ditches in Jeddah in one year. How did the municipality count them? How did the municipality forget their places and now need a satellite to know their locations?
The residents of Jeddah are sick of the unaccountable press statements by municipal officials who always tell us fairy tales, which should lull us to sleep with nice dreams. In reality we, the residents, are bewildered. The large sums of money allotted to Jeddah have been enough to build a number of new cities but these amounts were not sufficient to supply the city with the basic amenities that are found even in very poor cities. You get up to discover that there is no water in the house but when you go out, you will see the projects and ditches everywhere.
You read in the newspapers attacks against the municipality even from its own advisers and you question: What if the dam on the sewage lake burst and the city was flooded? If millions of riyals can disappear on the ground, they will definitely disappear in the air more quickly because of the light weight.
I would like to propose that municipal officials take walks on the main streets of the city. If they can do that, then we will take them to the branch roads. It seems to me that the officials do not walk on the same streets we use.
