- JEDDAH: On receiving complaints from a number of Jeddah residents that water was leaking near the intersection of Tahliya and Prince Sultan streets, particularly at the areas surrounding the northern drainage canal responsible for the runoff from Wadi Hanifa and Wadi Bani Malik, Arab News investigated the case to find out that houses were actually built on the canal.
This raises up an important question: Were these houses built after the canal was covered or is because the owners of the buildings believed that the canal actually ended there so it was OK for them to construct their houses there?
Arab News called a number of municipal officials, but no one was willing to comment on the matter.
A number of real estate brokers who used to sell land in this area told Arab News that the drainage infrastructure has diverted water away from the area, but there has been no official confirmation if this was in fact the case.
Going through reports issued by the municipality a few years back, we found out that there was a project to cover the northern drainage canal at a cost of more than SR320 million.
According to contractors, who did not want their names published, there were two projects: one to cover the canal and the other to extend the pipes, but the companies did not coordinate their work and the pipes were not extended.
Meanwhile, locals say the problem of flooding in the area has been made worse, not better, by the project.
Officials have consistently blamed unauthorized construction in the path of valleys that drain rainwater into the sea for floods that devastated the city in the past two years.
