Luay Abdul Al-Qader Abdu apparently made the remarks at a workshop organized by the council. The reported budget allocation for rainwater projects was SR625 million. The workshop was organized as part of the council's preparations ahead of the rainy season.

However, the Jeddah municipality has denied such comments, including those in the workshop, were made by any of its representatives. “The organizations and people officially responsible for making media statements have already talked to the media,” a municipality statement said. It reiterated that only officials such as the mayor, deputy mayors and their undersecretaries make official statements through the municipality’s communications department.

However, the council claims that Abdu said in his talk that most of the projects currently under way had actually been approved before last November’s flood struck Jeddah, adding that only two projects had been started after the tragedy.

According to the council, he also pointed out that current flooding safeguards have the capacity to deal with heavy downpours, but they are still not enough to counter a huge flood. Abdu claimed another factor leading to the delay in the implementation of projects was the critical observations made by auditors, the council said. He allegedly said two projects worth SR16 million and SR69 million currently under way would be effective if a flood of last year's magnitude strikes the city. He added that efforts are under way to test the effectiveness of local underpass tunnels with regard to their resistance to floods.