I remember clearly an official of the Jeddah municipality recently saying that the holes in the roads of Jeddah were caused by surface water, water leaking from water tankers, the car washers and the water flowing into the streets when houses were cleaned. Poor Jeddah! It is human nature to put the blame on others for our own shortcomings. We are also fond of making unfulfilled promises! The Bride of the Red Sea has aged prematurely. It has lost its beauty and elegance. People still, however, flock to Jeddah from everywhere for its seaside setting and memories of its past.
At the very time when the city is full of seasonal visitors, the municipality announces its plan to cover holes and potholes in many districts and in main roads. The plan is for repairing 30,000 holes. The figure is really shocking. What has happened to the plan? I do not know. All I know is that we are sick of the holes in our streets and sick of the municipality doing nothing. It is surely our right and privilege to walk and drive in our streets without having to dodge holes and potholes. The question that worries me is why the municipality officials do not make inspection visits — even once a year — to our streets sinking into holes. For how long will the municipality remain silent and do nothing? The wall of silence is not made of steel but even if it were, the steel wall would finally break down because of the will of the people.
We want to have a small portion of the culture known as the “culture of rights.” With this in mind, I hope that the municipality will give the phenomenon of holes and potholes some of its time and deal with the problems.
