Two school building projects in Madinah have been delayed for seven and eight years, while the city’s local education department rents out unsuitable and unsafe buildings, according to local residents.

They accused city officials of failing to provide a proper learning environment for students and want them investigated for corruption.

In Wadi Reem, about 70 km east of Madinah, citizens said they had high hopes contractors would add a new building to the Abu Firas Alhamadani Elementary School in two to three years for their children moving up from first grade. However, the project has been delayed for seven years.

They said this raises questions about the commitment of officials to provide for learners in the area. They said the school’s partially built walls have now fallen over. Even a board with the name of the project has disappeared.

“It is a sham,” Moawadh Al-Harbi, a citizen of the area, reportedly said. “The building has started to fall down and turned into a hideout for criminals.” He called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) to intervene and address the issue.

Rezik Al-Harbi, another citizen, said they complained for seven years but education department officials allegedly ignored them. “How does this happen? Some official body should intervene to either build the school or demolish the dilapidated building to protect our children from danger,” he said.

Zaifallah Owaid Al-Matrafi, a citizen, called for action. “What we really want now is to take a step forward, not just to sit and cry about the bad old times. The authorities should tell us what they have in mind for this dying building, and for our children who go to rented school buildings?”

To the north of Madinah in Prince Turki District, Alwaleed bin Uqbah School is in a similar situation, with the construction delayed for eight years. Citizens here are also up in arms about the delay.

“The students have to learn in a rented building. The state spends thousands of riyals on rent, without supervision from any government body,” said Attallah Mesnad Al-Rashidi, a citizen living in the area.

The whole project has become a headache for parents because foreign workers use the building site as a shelter at night where all kinds of criminal acts take place, said Al-Rashidi.

Saleh Al-Mutairi said officials should be held accountable. “Rust is eating through the pillars, the partial construction is falling down and no government body is controlling or supervising the building site. This is a worrying issue for citizens.”

Muhammad Musleh Alarary said the disappearance of the project plate was evidence that no one cared. He described the situation as “a crime.”

Omar bin Muhammad Bernawi, general director of the education department in Madinah, responded by saying that the only delayed school project in Madinah was in the town of Guzlan. “When the project was delayed we handed it over to a second contractor. However, this contractor died, so now a third contractor is being sought to handle the project.”