RIYADH: Deputy Director of Riyadh Municipal Council, Taiq Al-Qasabi, has rejected accusations that the civic body has not been doing anything to avoid a potential flooding crisis similar to the disaster that hit Jeddah last month.
Residents’ worries have been growing since heavy rain in the capital on Dec. 4 flooded Othman bin Affan tunnel, the crossing at Takhassossi Street, Imam Muhammad Street and other key highways, causing traffic jams and vehicle breakdowns.
Officials at the municipality said the safety and effective drainage of highways, bridges and flyovers were the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. Yet an official at the office of Deputy Minister of Transport Abdullah Al-Mugbil, speaking to Arab News, denied that the highways are the ministry’s responsibility, especially with regards to drainage.
Al-Qasabi said the council had met three times before the Jeddah crisis to discuss the city’s drainage problems.
Although a flood drainage network covers only 28 percent of inhabited areas, Al-Qasabi claimed all financial allocations during the last 15 years were money well spent.
Critics saw the municipality emergency meeting with contractors, to discuss procedures and ensure sufficient pumps are available, as a waste of time as there was no attempt to find a radical solution to a problem that appears to recur every rainy season.
