50,000 Jeddah potholes fixed

The Jeddah Municipality has spent SR 500 million fixing over 50,000 potholes in the city, according to a municipal official.
The work took place over three years, from 2010 to the end of 2012, with a focus on roads damaged by rainwater, floods and rising levels of groundwater, said municipality spokesman Abdulaziz Al-Nahari.
“Nearly 12,000 potholes were fixed by re-asphalting streets that contained too many depressions. Nearly 40,000 potholes were fixed individually in various streets,” he said. The total area covered was 1,453,611 square meters, he said, adding that the number of road depressions have decreased considerably.
He said potholes were caused by repeated use of certain roads by trucks with heavy loads and poor construction by incompetent contractors. He said the Jeddah Municipality was no longer giving contractors completion certificates if the work was not done properly.
He said the money for the repairs was taken from two sources, the projects budget and the operation and maintenance division, which carried out most of the work.
Al-Nahari urged residents to report potholes in their neighborhoods because the city did not have enough inspectors to cover thousands of streets housing a population of 4 million.
People can also call 940 and contact the municipality on Facebook and Twitter, he added. Reports are dealt with according to priority. Maintenance teams would fix the pothole and send a text message or an email to the complainant stating that the work had been done.