Authorities are taking many measures to improve the civic infrastructure of Riyadh. I strongly believe that all these development strategies should be reevaluated from time to time.
Nobody could deny the sufferings of the residents of the capital city since the beginning of the metro project. Since its launch, we have been facing detours and traffic gridlocks almost on a daily basis.
Slogans like “be patient. We are working for you” don’t alleviate our sufferings. We want to see immediate positive and creative solutions that could ease this pressure and agony. In fact, we are capable and willing to provide the required solutions.
When you look around, you can find thousands of critics but you rarely see one innovative idea to help us come out of this bottleneck. It is easy to criticize and blame others but suggesting solutions seems to be difficult. The reason for this in not ignorance or the inability to innovate, but it is due to the wrong understanding of what is going on.
For example, everybody is convinced that the execution of the metro project is the responsibility of the Higher Riyadh Development Authority. This responsibility includes correcting mistakes. But the question relating to this responsibility is whether the role of the authority is supervision or implementation? This project is an important and necessary requirement, so there must be some party to supervise and execute it. During this process, mistakes are likely to happen because this is a human endeavor, and mistakes happen either because of wrong expectations or wrong preparation.
It is better to light a candle than to curse darkness, as the Chinese proverb goes. This applies to those onlookers who hammer our heads every day with their criticism without suggesting any alternative. To these people and others we say, if the picture and goals are clear to them, why don’t we, as individuals or community and private organizations, offer positive solutions that could improve the situation? Did anyone ever think of holding a meeting with representatives of the Riyadh inhabitants to listen to their ideas and solutions? What we have at present is an intolerable traffic crisis, so what is the way out? Should we continue to wait for the supervisory party to solve this problem? How could the private sector help in alleviating the problems? If the companies use buses to transport their workers from and to their places of work, will this be of any help? Will changing schools and universities’ hours offer a successful solution?
I believe that the Riyadh municipality should establish a special office to receive ideas and suggestions, evaluate them and present them to any party that is willing to implement them. The motive behind this suggestion is to create the spirit of competitiveness and not selectivity in solving the traffic problem. These are but few suggestions in an attempt from my part to light a candle, and I hope others will follow suit.
